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THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

IN THE REVOLUTION 
1780-1783 



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7 
THE HISTORY 



SOUTH CAROLINA 



THE REVOLUTION 
1780-1783 



BY 

EDWARD McCRADY, LL.D. 

A MEMBER OF THE BAR OF CHARLESTON, S.C., AND PRESIDENT 

OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

AUTHOR OF "the HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA UNDER THE PROPRIETARY 

GOVERNMENT," "THE HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA UNDER THE 

ROYAL GOVERNMENT," AND " THE HISTORY OF SOUTH 

CAROLINA IN THE REVOLUTION — 1775-1780" 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 

1902 

All rights reserved 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Tvtr) Copi6tt Recsiveo 

SeP. 1? 1902 

OOPVBBHT ENTBY 

4«^. / -) - , c^r V 

Dt-ASS iX XXc No. 

copy B. 



COPTEIGHT, 1902, 

By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
Set up and electrotyped August, 1902. 



NortooDlJ ^rtsa 

J. S. CuBhing Sl Co. - Berwick & Smith 

Norwood Maea. U.S.A. 



AUTHORITIES CONSULTED AND QUOTED 

Abridgment of the Debates of Congress. Vol. I. 1789-1796. Benton, 

New York, 1857. 
American Loyalists. Lorenzo Sabine. Boston, MDCCCXLVII. 
American War, History of the. C. Stedman, London. I. Murray, 1794. 

2 volumes. 
Annals of Newberry District. John Bel ton O'Neall, LL.D. 1859. 
Annual Register or Review of History, Politics, and Literature, for the 

years 1780, 1781, 1782. 
Array Regulations, U.S. 
Articles of War, U.S. 

Bancroft's History of the United States. Editions of 1852-1883. 
Bay's South Carolina Reports. Law. 
Botta's History of the War of the United States of America. Translated 

from the Italian by George Alexander Otis. 2 volumes. 1834. 
British Military Library. London, 1799. 
Brown, Tarleton, Memoirs, Barnwell, S.C. 
Campaigns of 1781 in the Carolinas. Henry Lee. Philadelphia, F. Littell, 

1824. 
Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy growing out of the Campaign in Virginia, 

1781. B. F. Stevens. London, 1888. 2 volumes. 
Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society. 4 volumes. 
Colonial and Revolutionary History of Upper South Carolina. Landrum. 
Crimean War, History of. Kinglake. 

Curwen's Journal and Letters, 1775-1784. New York, 1845. 3d edition. 
Diary of Josiah Smith, Jr., an Exile to St. Augustine, MS. 
Documentary History of South Carolina. Robert W. Gibbes. 3 volumes. 
Doyle, Sir Francis, Reminiscences and Opinions, 1813-1885. Appleton, 

1887. 
Drayton's Memoirs of the Revolution. John Drayton, LL.D. 1821. 2 

volumes. 
Eraser, Charles, Reminiscences of Charleston. 
Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolutionary War. Charleston, 1822. 
Gazette, The Royal. 

The South Carolina, and General Advertiser. 
The South Carolina Weekly. 

V 



VI AUTHOEITIES COls^SULTED AND QUOTED 

Gordon, W., History of the American Revolution. London, 1788. 4 

volumes. 
Greene, Nathanael, Life and Campaigns. C. Caldwell, M.D. Phila- 
delphia, 1819. 
Life. William Gilmore Simms. 
Life and Correspondence. Hon. William Johnson. Charleston, 1822. 

2 volumes. 
Major-General of the Army of the Revolution. George W. Greene, 

Boston, 1849. 
Great Commander Series. Francis Vinton Greene. New York, 

189.3. 
Gregg, Right Rev. Alexander, History of Old Cheraws. 1867. 
Historical Register of the Continental Army. Heitman. Washington, 

1893. 
Johnson, Joseph, M.D., Traditions and Reminiscences of the Revolution 

in South Carolina. Charleston, 1851. 
Kent's Commentaries. 

King's Mountain and its Heroes, Draper. Cincinnati, 1881. 
Lacey, General Edward, Life of. M. A. Moore, M.D. 185i. 
Laurens MSS., South Carolina Historical Society. 
Lives of the Lord Chancellors. Campbell. Vol. VII. 
London Remembrancer, or Impartial Repository of Events. 
Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution. New York, 1852. 2 volumes. 
Magazine of American History, with Notes and Queries. Edited by 

Martha J. Lamb. Vol. XII. 1881. 
Mariop., Francis, Life of. William Dobien James, A.M. Charleston, 1821. 
Life of. William Gilmore Simms. 
Life of. M. L. Weems. Philadelphia, 1851. 
McCall's History of Georgia. Savannah, 1811. 2 volumes. 
Memoirs of the War of 1776. Henry Lee. Edition of Robert E. Lee. 

1870. 
Moore's Diary. 

Morgan, General Daniel, Original Report of Battle of Cowpens. 
Morris, Gouverneur, Life of. Jared Sparks. Boston, 1832. 
Moultrie's Memoirs of the American Revolution. New York, 1802. 

2 volumes. 
Myers, Mr. T. Bailey, of New York, Collection of. 
North Carolina in 1780-1781. David Schenck, LL.D. Raleigh, 1889. 
Orangeburg County, History of. A. S. Salley, Jr. 1898. 
Parliamentary History, 1781-1782. Vol. XXII. 
Pamphlets, Charleston Library. 5th Series. Vol. II. 
Piuckney, Eliza, Women of Colonial and Revolutionary Times. Mrs. 

H. H. Ravenel. Scribner Series, 1897. 



AUTHORITIES CONSULTED AND QUOTED vii 

Pinckney, General Thomas, Life of. By Rev. Charles Cotesworth Pinck- 
ney, D.D. 1895. 

Ramsay, David, M.D., History of South Carolina. 1809. 2 volumes. 
History of the Revolution in South Carolina. 1785. 2 volumes. 

Russell's Magazine, Charleston. Vol. IV. 

Simms, William Gilmore, History of South Carolina. Edition 1840-1860. 

South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine. A. S. Salley, Jr., 
editor. 

South Carolina under the Royal Government, 1719-177G. McCrady. 
1899. 

South Carolina in the Revolution, 1775-1780. McCrady. 1901. 

Southern Review, Charleston, S.C. Vol. I. 1828. 

Statistics of South Carolina. Robert Mills. Charleston, 1826. 

Statutes of South Carolina. 

Strictures on Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton's History. By Roderick 
McKenzie, Lieutenant Seventy-first Regiment. London, 1787. 

Sumter, General Thomas, MS. collection in possession of Miss Mary 
Brownfield, Summerville, S.C. 
Letters of, in possession of William Nightingale, of Brunswick, Ga. 
Certified copies of same in possession of South Carolina Historical 
Society. 

Tarleton's History of the Campaigns of 1780-1786 in the Southern Prov- 
ince of North America. By Lieutenant-Colonel Tarleton of the 
British Legion. London, MDCCCXXXVIII. 

Two Wars. An Autobiography. S. G. French. 

United Service Magazine, September, 1881. The Battle of Eutaw Springs. 
J. Watts de Peyster, Major-General, N.G.N.Y. 

Washington, George, Washington Irving's Life of. New York, 1855. 
4 volumes. 
John Marshall's Life of. Philadelphia, 1804. 5 volumes. 

Washington's Writings. By Jared Sparks. Boston, 1837. 12 volumes. 

Watson, Richard, Anecdotes of the Life of. 

Wheeler's History of North Carolina. Philadelphia, 1851. 

Winsor's Narrative and Critical History. The War in the Southern De- 
partment. By Edward Channing. 

Wraxall's Memoirs. London, 1818. 

Year Book, City of Charleston. Hon. J. Adger Smyth. 1899. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

General Gates removed from command of Southern Department — 
General Nathanael Greene appointed in his place — Sketch of General 
Greene — His appointment solicited by the delegates in Congress of the 
Southern States — Greene leaves West Point for his new command — 
Receives his instructions from Washington — Arrives in Philadelphia — 
Unsuccessfully appeals to Congress for assistance — Obtains some help 
from Governor Reed of Pennsylvania — His department enlarged to in- 
clude Delaware and Maryland — Major Henry Lee promoted lieutenant- 
colonel and ordered to join him — Greene proceeds to the South — His 
staff — Cornwallis's position at Winnsboro — Leslie diverted from Virginia 
to reenforce him — Greene reaches Charlotte and assumes command — 
Finds Morgan in the field with an independent corps detailed by Gates — 
Organization of rest of Gates's army — Affair at Rugeley's Mills — Wash- 
ington captures the post — Number and condition of army found by 
Greene — Colonel Davie accepts the appointment as commissary general 
on his staff — Greene moves his army to Cheraw — His sanguine views in 
regard to the position — Leslie arrives at Charlestown with his command 
— Marion's activity meanwhile — Reports to Greene Leslie's arrival and 
march to Camden — Career of Major Dunlap — He raids Pickens's and 
McCall's plantations — Pickens, regarding himself released from the en- 
gagements of his parole, comes out and joins Morgan — The case of 
General Williamson — Washington attacks and defeats party of Loyalists 
at Hammond's Store, and Cuningham at Williamson's plantation on Little 
River. 

CHAPTER II 

Position of parties in the beginning of the year 1781 — Cornwallis 
sends Tarleton to look after Morgan and advances himself from Winns- 
boro to Turkey Creek, where Leslie joins him — Tarleton outmanoeuvres 
Morgan on the Pacolet and forces him to fall back — Crosses the river 



X CONTENTS 

and pursues Morgan — Morgan halts at Cowpens and prepares to give 
battle — The force on each side — Morgan's position criticised, his 
justification of it condemned — His masterly disposition when forced 
to battle — His order of battle — Description of the battle — Tarleton 
utterly defeated. 

CHAPTER III 

Morgan's conduct to Sumter, the origin of the hostility of Greene 
to the latter — Jealousy between Continental and partisan leaders — 
Greene's unfortunate habit of letter-writing — Governor Rutledge sum- 
mons Sumter to meet Greene — Sumter hastens to obey, notwithstanding 
his wound — Their conference — Greene writes to Sumter, disparaging 
partisan warfare — Effect of letter considered — His own conduct incon- 
sistent therewith — His failure to recognize what had been accomplished 
by the volunteer bands — Case between Sumter and Morgan stated and 
considered — Greene's radical misconception of the partisan corps — 
No government to furnish a militia — Marion continues his successful 
raids on enemy's communication — Greene writes to him approving his 
partisan warfare — Lee's Legion arrives at Cheraw — Its composition — 
Marion's corps as now organized — Capture of Captain De Peyster by Cap- 
tain Postell — Colonel Peter Horry attacks and routes Tories under 
Gainey — Sergeant McDonald's gallant conduct — Marion, threatened 
by Hector McNeal from North Carolina, appeals to Greene for re- 
enforcements — Lee's Legion sent to his assistance — Major Anderson 
sent to attack Tories at Amie's Mills — Lee joins Marion and attacks 
Georgetown, garrison surprised. Colonel Campbell taken prisoner — 
Marion and Lee ultimately repulsed — Major Irvine of British army 
killed. 

CHAPTER IV 

Positions of the British and American forces when the battle of 
Cowpens was fought — Greene learns of the victory, but makes no 
movement — Morgan leaves Pickens to bury the dead and provide for 
the wounded — Advances across Cornwallis's front — Reaches Gilbertown 

— Hyrne relieves Pickens of care of prisoners — Sir Henry Clinton sends 
a corps under General Philips to take the place of Leslie's in Virginia — 
Leslie effects junction with Cornwallis, who begins his march northward 

— Greene informs Marion of victory at Cowpens — His ride across the 
country to join Morgan — Leaves Huger to follow with rest of army — 
Position at Cheraw proves not as satisfactory as Greene had supposed — 
British forces remaining in South Carolina — Question as to Lord 



CONTENTS XI 

Kawdon's command — Question as to credit for movements in South 
Carolina after Greene left the State — Brilliant strokes of the Postells — 
Marion attacks Major McLeroth at Halfway Swamp — Pursues him — 
McLeroth halLs and takes position — Marion proposes a combat between 
picked men from both sides — McLeroth accepts — Arrangements made 

— Parties about to engage when McLeroth calls in his and retreats — His 
object probably to gain time — Abandons his baggage and escapes Marion 

— Sumter, partially recovered from his wound, takes the field — Pickens 
operates in rear of Cornwailis — Sumter is joined by his partisan 
leaders, marches for Fort Granby — Attacks the place — Rawdon 
marches to its relief — Sumter writes to Marion, requesting a conference 

— Destroys British magazines in Rawdon's presence and fetires — 
Attacks British post at Thomson's plantation — Attacks and captures 
wagon train and convoy — Lord Rawdon appears — Sumter retires with 
prize, which he loads on canoes on the Santee, but loses by the treachery 
of pilot — Attacks Fort Watson, but is repulsed — Retires to High Hills 
of Santee — Writes again to Marion, urging conference, but Marion does 
not come — Sumter retires to the Waxhaws — On his march he is at- 
tacked by British troops under Major Fraser — But is not impeded — 
Rawdon concerts movements to crush Marion — Watson from Nelson's 
Ferry and Doyle from Camden sent after him — Marion moves from 
Snow Island by rapid march, attacks Watson at Wiboo Swamp, and 
defeats him — Affair of Mud Lick on the Saluda — Roebuck and White 
defeat the British and Tories — Horry's rear guard fight at Mount Hope 

— Marion attacks Watson at Black River — AVatson takes position at 
Blakeley's plantation — Is there besieged — Escapes to Georgetown — 
Marion pursues him — Doyle attacks Marion's guard at Snow Island 
and destroys his provisions — Returning from pursuit of Watson, Marion 
attacks and defeats Doyle at Witherspoon's Ferry — Watson, refreshed at 
Georgetown, again takes the field against Marion — Returning from 
pursuit of Doyle, Marion, hearing of the destruction of his stores and 
ammunition at Snow Island, determines to retire to North Carolina, but 
learns of the approach of Lee. 



CHAPTER V 

Pickens, now made brigader-general, rejoins Greene and is put in 
charge of operations in the rear of Cornwailis — linger and Lee form 
junction with Greene and Morgan at Guilford Court-house — Greene 
retreats into Virginia, while Cornwailis moves to Hillsboro — •Brilliant 
Bfroke of McCall under Pickens — Graham's part in it — Greene visits 
Pickens's camp, concerts combined movements of Pickens and Lee — 



XU CONTENTS 

Pickens's movements — The Pyles affair — Pickens returns to South 
Carolina — The affair at Dutchman Creek — Pickens is joined by 
Colonel Clarke of Georgia and McCall — Attacks and defeats Dunlap 
at Beattie's Mill — Curious doubt as to Dunlap's life or death — William 
Harden, a new leader, now appears — Leaving Marion on Pee Dee, Harden 
crosses the country and takes position between Charlestown and 
Pocotaligo — Attempts to induce Colonel Hayne to take the field, but 
Hayne refuses — The facts of Hayne's case — Affairs at Barton's post 
— Affair with Fenwick — Harden attacks and takes Fort Balfour — In a 
week's operations in rear of Charlestown, fights four engagements and 
breaks up British communication. 



CHAPTER VI 

Summary of engagements and results effected by the volunteer 
partisan bands during Greene's absence from the State — But growing 
necessity for more regular organization — No civil government to provide 
a militia — Governor Rutledge, with dictatorial powers, still out of the 
State — His letters to Sumter, Marion, and Pickens — Sumter's ineffectual 
appeals to Marion for counsel and cooperation — Sumter writes to Marion 
upon subject for organization of State troops — Richard Hampton's 
letter to his brother John on same subject, giving details of plan — 
Scheme discussed — Its evils — Marion disapproves — Sumter and Pickens 
partly adopt it — But not successfully — Regiments raised — Wade 
Hampton takes the field — Tradition in regard to him — His case like 
that of Pickens, Hayne, and others in regard to their paroles — Its im- 
portance — The case of Captain Postell — Marion's conduct in regard 
thereto — His correspondence with Captain Saunders upon subject — 
His correspondence with Watson upon same — Balfour's letter to Watson 
— Marion, in retaliation for Postell's arrest, takes an officer sent by 
Saunders under a flag, but oflicer escapes — Postell held a prisoner to the 
end of the war. 

CHAPTER VII 

British rejoicing upon the news of victory at Guilford Court-house — 
Crudeu's ball — Conduct of the Carolina women — Actual results of the 
battle disastrous to the British — Greene resumes the offensive — Wade 
Hampton arrives at Greene's headquarters with letter from Sumter — 
Question as to the credit of the idea of Greene's movement upon Raw- 
don at Camden — Two parties upon subject at Greene's headquarters — 
Greene reluctantly determines upon movement — Writes to Sumter, an- 



CONTENTS Xlll 

nouncing his purpose, and putting him in chai'ge of cooperative move- 
ments in South Carolina — The charge that Sumter disclosed his purpose 
considered and answered — Greene, disregarding his letter to Sumter, 
sends Lee to Marion with special instruction — Sumter's letter to Greene, 
promising cordial cooperation, and saying how many men he expected to 
be able to furnish — Controversy upon this subject — No militia in South 
Carolina — Only partisan followers of Sumter, Marion, and Pickens — 
Sumter takes the field and sweeps the country from the Catawba to the 
Saluda — Marion, joined by Lee, abandons his retreat to North Carolina, 
turns upon Watson, who, hearing of Lee's junction with him, retreats to 
Georgetown — Marion proposes to follow Watson, but Lee dissuades him 
— Marion and Lee determine to take Fort Watson — They proceed to do 
60 — Gallant defence by Lieutenant McKay — Marion sends to Greene for 
piece of artillery — Meanwhile fort taken by means of Maham's device of 
a commanding log tower — Marion moves to High Hills of Santee — His 
movement brings on the battle of Hobkirk's Hill — Greene's flattering 
letter to Marion — His inconsistent letters to Washington and to Governor 
Reed — Sumter's subsequent denunciation of the letters in which Greene 
disparages the followers of Sumter and Marion. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Greene breaks up his camp at Ramsay's Mill and marches to South 
Carolina — Arrives before Camden — On road receives letter from Sumter, 
reporting his movements and condition of affairs — Replies to it, giving 
Sumter instructions — Writes twice again to Sumter, which letters fail to 
reach him — Sumter reports his movements in pursuance of his instruc- 
tions — Rawdon apprised of Greene's approach — Receives reenforcements 
of a body of Loyalists — An examination of the numbers of the two armies, 
British and American — Greene advances and takes post at Hobkirk's 
Hill — Sends piece of artillery to Marion — Movements to conceal his 
doing so — Colonel Carrington's mistake — Rawdon assumes the offensive 

— Marches out and attacks Greene — Question as to the surprise of Greene 

— Greene's dispositions for battle — Description of battle — Greene de- 
feated — Losses on both sides — Greene's disappointment — Loss of battle 
attributed to Colonel Gunby — Court of inquiry exculpates him of all but 
errors of judgment — Features of the battle considered — Greene writes 
long letter of complaint to Governor Reed of Pennsylvania — Complains 
that Sumter and Marion accomplish but little — The British, on the other 
hand, not elated by the victory — Balfour's letter to Clinton on the sub- 
ject. 



XIV CONTENTS 



CHAPTER IX 

Greene orders Sumter to collect his forces and join him — Receiving 
letter from Marion of capture of Fort Watson, replies, directing him also 
to move up and join him — Sends similar order to Lee — Watson eludes 
Marion, Lee, and Sumter, and reaches Rawdon — Greene contemplates 
abandoning tlie State — Orders to Marion and Lee countermanded — Sum- 
ter criticised for not joining Lee — Greene's letter to Lee upon the subject, 
and Lee's reply condemning Sumter — Correspondence between Sumter 
and Greene, showing Greene's approval of Sumter's course — Sumter 
blamed for Watson's success in joining Rawdon — Charge considered — 
Anticipating an advance upon Rawdon's part, Greene falls back to Saw- 
ney's Creek — Rawdon advances, but finding Greene's position too strong, 
retires — Controversy as to Greene's purpose at this time to abandon the 
State — Davie's statement in regard to it — Greene's cipher letter to Lee 
— His letter to Washington — No inconsistency between Davie's state- 
ment and Greene's cipher letter to Lee — Different motives only attrib- 
uted — Mr. Lee's views as to the disastrous consequences had Greene 
carried out his purpose. 



CHAPTER X 

Lord Rawdon's disapproval of the post at Camden — Sumter and Marion 
had also perceived, and acted upon same — Lee entitled to credit of 
Greene's return to South Carolina, but not to the initiation of the 
movements against Rawdon's communication — Greene's disparagement 
of it — His personal reason therefor — Effect of these movements ap- 
preciated in England — Rawdon determines to abandon Camden — His 
measures therefor — He burns Camden and falls back — Unhappy fate of 
Loyalists who accompany him on his retreat — Brilliant successes of the 
partisan corps and Lee Legion — Sumter besieges Fort Motte and Fort 
Granby — Captures Orangeburg and its garrison — Sweeps across the 
country, removing horses and all means of transportation in Rawdon's 
way — Marion and Lee join in siege of Fort Motte — Story of the siege — 
Romantic incident of Mrs. Motte furnishing arrows to fire her house — The 
fort taken — Greene appears, orders Marion to Georgetown and Lee to 
Granby — Negotiates for surrender of fort — Lee receives capitulation of 
the post — Sumter indignant at the terms upon which he did so — Both 
Sumter and Marion tender their resignation because of Lee's conduct — 
Greene refuses to receive either — Greene's letter to Sumter — His im- 
proper correspondence with Lee. 



CONTENTS XV 



CHAPTER XI 

Balfour meets Rawdon at Nelson's Ferry, reporting the whole coun- 
try in revolt, and the dangerous condition of affairs — Results of Sum- 
ter's raid — For five days Rawdon could get no intelligence — Reports that 
Greene had passed the Congaree — Sumter urges an attack upon Rawdon 
by Greene with all his forces — Greene refuses — Case discussed — Greene 
turns aside to besiege Ninety Six — Ninety Six ordered to be evacuated 

— Greene's movements prevent it — Greene still contemplating giving 
up further prosecution of the war in South Carolina — Harden's move- 
ments — Clarke and McCall proceed to Georgia to renew the war there — 
Both stricken with small-pox — McCall dies — Dreadful condition of the 
Georgia Whigs — Johnston and McKoy take position on the Savannah — 
Colonel Browne from Augusta sends to dislodge them — His detachment 
defeated — Browne moves against Harden — Affair at Wiggins's Hill — 
Harden retreats — Losses on both sides — Whigs wounded concealed — 
Tanner murdered — Wylley, a prisoner, turned over by Browne to Indians 
to be massacred — Tragic story of Rannal McKoy's execution, with others, 
by Browne — Pickens's movements since his return to South Carolina — 
Joined by the two Hammonds — Affair at Horner's Creek — Clarke re- 
covers and resumes the field — Marches to Augusta — Pickens operates 
between Augusta and Ninety Six — Affair at Walker's bridge, Brier Creek 
— Guard at Beech Island killed by detachment sent by Browne — Detach- 
ment on its return surprised and slaughtered — Greene sends Lee to pre- 
vent escape of garrison from Ninety Six — Lee attempts to surprise the 
garrison, but fails — Reports to Greene Colonel Cruger's purpose to hold 
Ninety Six — Hastens to Augusta — Clarke captures boats on the Savannah 
with British presents to Indians — Major Rudulph takes Fort Galphiu 
with stores of clothing and ammunition — Augusta besieged by Pickens, 
Clarke, and Lee — Progress of the siege — Attack upon Fort Grierson — 
Grierson's whole party killed, wounded, or taken — Major Eaton of North 
Carolina killed — Grierson killed while a prisoner — A Maham tower 
built — Severe struggle ensues, with great loss on both sides — Browne's 
stratagem fails — Browne surrenders — Losses during the siege — Measures 
taken for Browne's protection — Pickens reports circumstances of 
Grierson's death to Greene — Prisoners taken marched to Ninety Six — 
Browne sent to Savannah — Mrs. McKoy's alleged interview with Browne 

— Pickens's effort to discover the murderers of Grierson — Colonel Lee 
marches with guns captured at Augusta to join in siege of Ninety Six — 
Pickens remains at Augusta to secure stores captured. 



XVI CONTENTS 



CHAPTEE XII 

Greene's instructions to Sumter upon his determination to proceed 
against Ninety Six — At Ninety Six tlie first bloodslied of the Revolu- 
tion in South Carolina — The place and its fortification described — 
Colonel Cruger and its garrison — Cruger's preparation to meet Greene 

— Greene appears before the place — With Kosciuszko reconnoitres the 
place, and decides upon plan of siege — Approaches begun and pressed 

— Greene summons Cruger to surrender — He refuses — Greene learns of 
the appearance off Charlestown bar of a fleet with British reenforcements — 
The time of its arrival, of the landing of the troops, and of Sumter's and 
Marion's report of same considered — Colonel Lee reaches Ninety Six 
from Augusta — Washington's horse and Lee's cavalry sent to join Sumter 

— Greene directs Sumter to call in Marion and to collect all his forces and 
to oppose advance of British reenforcement — British regiments con- 
stituting reenforcements — Rawdon mounts regiment of South Carolina 
Royalists as cavalry under command of Major John Coffin — Marches for 
the relief of Ninety Six — On way is joined by Colonel Doyle from 
Monck's Corner — Gi'eene continues siege of Ninety Six — Indian arrows 
and Maham tower fail of effect — Striking episode of a horseman riding 
into the fort of Ninety Six with news of Rawdon's approach — Sumter, 
Marion, and Pickens fail to form junction — Rawdon avoids them — 
Disaster to Colonel Mydelton — Rawdon approaches Ninety Six — Greene 
attempts to storm the works, but fails — He raises the siege. 



CHAPTEE XIII 

The country i*ecovered by Rawdon — But could he hold it? — The 
difiSculties of his situation — His duties to the Loyalists who had stood by 
the king — Convenes principal Tories and confers with them — They de- 
termine to follow him to Charlestown — Leaving Cruger to escort them, 
Rawdon moves to the Congaree — Writes to Balfour for strong corps to 
be sent to Orangeburg — Colonel Gould, commanding recently armed re- 
enforcements, sends Colonel Stuart with Third Regiment — Greene sends 
Lee to hover about Ninety Six, Washington to Granby — Sumter pre- 
pares for another expedition to the Low-Country — Greene advances to 
Granby — Awaits there reenforcements from North Carolina — Learns of 
stores under escort moving to Orangeburg — Orders Lee to form junctiem 
with Washington, and Sumter to detach Mydelton also to Washington — 
Washington intercepts letter for Stuart informing Rawdon of his advance 
to Orangeburg — Greene determines to attack Stuart — With small escort 



CONTENTS XVU 

hastens to join Washington — Rawdon reaches Granby before Greene — 
Lee strikes a brilliant stroke, capturing wagons and escort of cavalry, in- 
flicting serious loss on Rawdon — Stuart recalled to Charlestown — Raw- 
don, hearing nothing of him, retires to Orangeburg — British suffer from 
the intense heat — Criticisms of Greene's oflScers considered and answered 

— Marion joins Washington — They concert a movement against a convoy 
for relief of Rawdon, but fail to take it — Greene, summoning Sumter, 
Marion, Lee, and Washington, resolves to march upon Orangeburg — 
Pickens left to watch Cruger — Cruger's march with the Tory refugees 
from Ninety Six — Suffering of the refugees — Cruger abandons refugees 
and joins Rawdon — Pickens fails to impede him — Green, joined by 
Sumter and others, offers battle, which Rawdon declines — Greene recon- 
noitres Rawdon's position at Orangeburg — Finds it too strong to attack 

— Greene turns over all his mounted men to Sumter, and gives him leave 
to make expedition to Low-Country — Activity elsewhere — Colonel Peter 
Horry, for Marion, negotiates treaty with Major Gainey of the Tories — 
Marion burns Georgetown — Harden establishes camp at Horseshoe — 
Colonel Hayne here joins him — At once enters the field — Makes brilliant 
dash to the gates of Charlestown — Captures General Williamson — Major 
Fraser pursues and overtakes Hayne, and captures him and releases 
Williamson. 

CHAPTER XIV 

Sumter gathers his forces for the expedition into the Low-Country — 
Troops constituting his command — A splendid body of men — Unfortunate 
jealousies of leaders — Stuart resumes his advance to join Lord Rawdon 

— Colonel Coates, with Nineteenth Regiment, sent to Monck's Corner — 
Different roads to Charlestown — British posts at Dorchester and Quarter 
House — Greene urges Sumter to hasten expedition — Disposition of Sum- 
ter's forces — Lee takes Dorchester without opposition — Wade Hampton 
captures prisoners at Goose Creek church, and attacks the Quarter House 
and captures garrison — Lee also reaches the Quarter House and pushes 
below it — One of the causes which operated against complete success of 
expedition — Coates crosses from Monck's Corner to Biggin Church — 
Sumter's force collected, he sends Maham to break up Quinby's bridge 
in Coates's rear — Maham is reenforced by Horry and Lacey — Slight affair 
at the bridge — Horry withdraws party — Coates burns his stores, crosses 
the bridge, and attempts to destroy it — Pursuit of Coates begun — Piece 
of artillery left — Lee and Hampton turn aside to pursue Captain Camp- 
bell, who is captured with one hundred men — The battle of Quinby's 
takes place — Account of same — Discord among the leaders — Num- 
ber engaged and losses — Specie taken divided among the soldiers — Much 



XVI 11 CONTENTS 

accomplished, though not all that should have been — Sumter recrosses 
Santee and takes position at Friday's Ferry — Greene's campaign ended 
— He retires to Camp of Repose on High Hills of Sautee, leaving Sumter 
and Marion to watch below. 



CHAPTER XV 

No exchange of prisoners in the Southern Department since the com- 
mencement of the war — Prisoners, civil and military, at first treated 
with no great severity — Continental soldiers confined in barracks in 
Charlestown — Officers at Haddrell's Point — Their disorderly conduct — 
Moultrie threatens them with court-martial — Judge Pendleton, a civil 
prisoner, escapes ; his case — Correspondence between Balfour and Moul- 
trie thereon — Continental prisoners celebrate Fourth of July — Corre- 
spondence between Balfour and Moultrie thereon — Moultrie protests 
against the arrest and exile of citizens sent to St. Augustine — Balfour's 
reply — Prisoners taken at Camden marched to Charlestown and crowded 
into prison ships — Dr. Fayssoux's account of their treatment — Balfour's 
attempt to seduce Moultrie through his son — Sir Charles Montagu re- 
turns to South Carolina — Offers soldiers on prison ships release if they 
go with him to West Indies — Offers command of his regiment to Moul- 
trie — Correspondence upon the subject — Moultrie's admirable letter — 
Colonel Grimk6 and Major Habersham arrested and put in close confine- 
ment — Balfour threatens to send all prisoners to West Indies — Moul- 
trie protests — General exchange agreed upon — Grimk^'s escape — Greene 
gives him a command with which he raids the prison camp at Haddrell's 
Point — Balfour prohibits paroled prisoners from exercising any pro- 
fession or calling — Threatens to retaliate for alleged ill treatment of 
British prisoners in American hands — Reply of More, Barnwell, and 
other prisoners on prison ships thereto — Major Hyrne's, commissary of 
prisoners, admirable management by which he effects a general exchange 
according to the cartel. 

CHAPTER XVI 

Military government established by British — Police board — James 
Sampson, Intendant — Table of depreciation of currency adopted — Its 
unexpected effects — More Injurious to loyal interest than to the Whigs 
— General Patterson relieved, and Nisbet Balfour appointed comman- j 
dant of the town — Unfriendly I'elations between Balfour and Rawdon — 
Balfour's arbitrary and tyrannical rule — The Exchange used as a prison 



CONTENTS Xix 

— The Provost — Cruel imprisonments therein — Patriotic conduct of the 
Carolina women — Treatment of exiles to St. Augustine — Upon the whole 
at first lenient — William Brown's especial good conduct to tiiem — Other 
exik'S added to former number — Condition changed for the worse — 
Information of execution of cartel of exchange of prisoners — Exiles 
notified to prepare to march to St. John's River — Memorialize against 
being compelled to do so — Vessels arrive off bar to take exiles — Women 
and children of exiles ordered to leave Charlestown — Great distress occa- 
sioned thereby — Arrangements finally made to take exiles to Philadelphia 

— Exiles charter one vessel for the purpose — More than one thousand 
persons forced to leave Charlestown — Families of exiles embark from 
Charlestown for Philadelphia — Mrs. De Saussure's petition to be allowed 
to sell furniture to provide means of transportation — Meeting of the exiles 
and their families in Philadelphia — Resolutions of Congress in regard to 
them — Ai^peals made to other States for their assistance — Contributions 
made therefor — Exchange of military prisoners. 



CHAPTER XVII 

Colonel Hayne's case — Balfour delays action upon it to consult Lord 
Rawdon — Question as to which had right of command — Balfour writes 
to Rawdon for his concurrence in regard to case — Delay in case — Rawdon 
replies to Balfour and comes himself to Charlestown — His leaving the 
field at this time criticised — His statement as to what occurred on his 
arrival — Application made to him at his own suggestion, and addressed 
to him as commander-in-chief — His account of what followed examined 

— Colonel Hayne informed that he was to be tried — Order revoked, and 
another issued for a court of inquiry — Hayne misled by this — Order 
based on that constituting the court which tried and condemned Andre 

— Hayne appears before the court — His account of what took place ; 
another American oliicer's account of same — Court and prisoner alike 
supposed its action a preliminary one — Hayne informed of his condemna- 
tion by Rawdon and Balfour — Mr. Colcock's legal opinion thereon — 
Hayne's protest — Is informed he is to be executed under Lord Corn- 
wallis's standing order — Rawdon again designated as commander-in-chief 

— Hayne reprieved for forty-eight hours — Ladies petition and implore 
for his pardon — Lieutenant-Governor Bull also appeals in Hayne's behalf 

— Sir Egerton Leigh opposes pardon — Account of execution — Indigna- 
tion with which the news of it is received in the American army — Greene's 
action thereon — Officers unite in urging retaliations — Greene's proclama- 
tion — No retaliation — Debate in the House of Lords upon subject — 
Case considered — American precedents — Hayne's true martyrdom. 



XX CONTENTS 



CHAPTEE XVIII 

Greene at Camp of Repose appeals for assistance — His disappointments 

— Wayne witli Pennsylvania line, on his way to join Greene, is stopped 
in Virginia — Colonel Jackson's corps of Georgians destroyed by small- 
pox — Militia from North Carolina pi'omised, fail to come — Shelby and 
Sevier, on their way, turn back — Other causes of complaint against Sumter 
conjured — The complaint that Sumter had disbanded his followers 
considered — Vicious system of raising State troops upon pay in kind 
of negroes and spoils — Wade Hampton's letter upon subject — Hender- 
son's letter upon same — Attempt to hold Sumter responsible for the 
burning of Georgetown — Difference of opinions between Greene, Sumter, 
Marion, and Lee as to operations — Greene avaricious of glory — Jealous 
of his followers — Washington detached to cooperate with Marion and 
Maham — Henderson in command of Sumter's brigade — Greene sends 
Malmedy to North Carolina for assistance — Success of his mission — 
Assistance promised — Tory Captain Connaway's success against Harden 

— Successful Tory raids of Williams and Cuningham — Washington's 
campaign at the North compels Greene to abandon Camp of Repose — 
Greene calls in his detachments — Crosses the Congaree — Takes position 
at Eutaw — Marion's brilliant raid in relief of Harden. 

CHAPTER XIX 

Greene's movements preceding the battle of Eutaw — Does not wait 
for Marion — Number of men on either side and composition of the 
opposing forces — Order of Greene's advance — Stuart's movements — 
British routing party captured — Advance party under Major Coffin 
repulsed and dispersed — Greene's line of battle formed — The British 
order of battle — The battle-field of Eutaw described — The battle takes 
place — Description of it — Both parties claim the victory — But the 
Americans leave the field which the British hold — Ultimate results 
nevertheless with the Americans — Losses upon both sides — The 
heroes of the battle, Majoribanks and Coffin of the British, and Wade 
Hampton of the Americans. 

CHAPTER XX 

Stuart retreats to Fair Lawn, destroys his stores there, and thence 
to Wantoot — Greene receives reports of Cornwallis returning to South 
Carolina — Retires to High Hills of Santee — Stuart, calling in all his 
detachments, advances again to the Eutaw — Governor Burke of North 



CONTENTS XXI 

Carolina captured by Hector McNeill — Lord Rawdon captured at sea — 
Exchanged for Burke — Stuart retires from the field because of wound 

— Colonel Doyle succeeds to command of British forces — Tory partisan 
leaders take the field — Sketch of Bloody Bill Cuningham — His 
grievances — Murder of Ritchie — Raids into Ninety Six — Slaughter of 
the Butlers at Cloud's Creek — Crosses the Saluda and raids what is 
now Laurens and Newberry counties — Slaughter of Hayes and his party 

— Cuningham intercepts wagon convoy for Pickens — Is pursued by 
Hammond — Tory raid of Hezekiah Williams — Affair at Vince's Fort — 
Cherokees' rise on frontier — Take Gowen's Fort and slaughter the 
garrison and refugees in it — Led by Bloody Bates — His ultimate fate. 



CHAPTER XXI 

Efforts to induce the French fleet after the surrender of Cornwallis to 
cooperate against British at Charlestown — They fail — Washington now 
enabled to send reenforcements to Greene — Shelby and Sevier join him 

— Intelligence of the surrender of Yorktown received — Greene's move- 
ments based upon the reenforcement of Shelby and Sevier — Report of 
intention of British to evacuate Charlestown — Shelby, Sevier, Horry, and 
Maham ordered to join Marion — Sumter to take post at Orangeburg — 
Pickens despatched to put down Indians — Major Moore surprised at 
Rowe's plantation — Sumter falls back — Marion's advance checked — 
Camp at High Hills of Santee broken up — Greene advances to Round O 

— Shelby and Sevier desert Greene — Sickness and mortality of British 
troops — Affair at Fair Lawn — Post abandoned by British — Burnt by 
Marion — Stuart complains — Cuningham surprises Richard Hampton — 
Stuart falls back towards Charlestown — Greene himself proceeds to Dor- 
chester with Wade Hampton — Colonel Williams moves with army to 
Four Holes — Hampton attacks and defeats a party of Loyalists sent to 
observe him — Stuart retreats to Quarter House — Is relieved of command 
by Leslie — British confined to Charlestown Neck — Colonel Craig sent to 
John's Island — Marion takes post at Wadboo — Sumter at Orangeburg 

— Wade Hampton keeps open communication between them — Greene's 
want of ammunition — Greene's army now in a rich country — Colonel Lee's 
description of it — Greene takes position to cover Jacksonborough, that 
General Assembly might be called there — Colonel John Laurens returns 
and joins Greene — Put in command of independent corps — Opens secret 
communication with Charlestown — Greene's alarm at reports of renewed 
British efforts to hold Charlestown and reconquer province — Sends to 
hurry St. Clair and Wayne on their march to him — Virginia and North 
Carolina inert — Greene writes to Governor Rutledge, proposing to raise 



XXii CONTENTS 

negro troops — Indignation created thereat — Expedition under Laurens, 
Lee, and Hamilton against John's Island — Its failure — Question as to 
its date — Affair between Dorchester and Quarter House in which Captain 
Armstrong of Lee's Legion is taken — Close of military operations for the 
year 1781. 

CHAPTER XXII 

Recapitulation of Governor Rutledge's course since the fall of Charles- 
town — He returns to the State — Establishes himself at Camden, and sets 
to work reorganizing military and civil affairs — Table of brigade and regi- 
mental organization — Reorganization under militia act of 1779 — Modifi- 
cation of same under his dictatorial powers — His proclamation thereon — 
Letter to Marion forbidding substitutes — Turns his attention to financial 
affairs — Orders impressment of indigo — Colonel Lee's interference there- 
with — His proclamation in regard to treatment of Tories — Is severely 
criticised by the stanchest Whigs — " Cassias's" letter thereon — Subject 
considered — Sumter's last act of command, enforcing Rutledge's procla- 
mation and receiving the submission of Tories — Appointment of ordina- 
ries — The State loses the services of both Sumter and Harden — Governor 
Rutledge appoints Major John Barnwell brigadier-general over Harden, 
who at once resigns — Sumter sacrificed to cabal of Greene and Lee — his 
command discriminated against and reduced — Inconsistent and uncandid 
letters of Greene — Sumter resigns. 

CHAPTER XXIII 

Review of the year 1781 — Deplorable condition of affairs at the North 
as well as South — Mutiny of the Pennsylvania line — Cornwallis's ad- 
vance into North Carolina takes Greene from the State, which is again 
abandoned by the Continental forces — South Carolina left for three 
months to struggle by herself — Review of the work of Sumter, Marion, 
and Pickens — Table of actions fought by them during Greene's absence 
— Review of Greene's movements to Camden and of Rawdon's evacuation 
of that post, primarily caused by action of the partisan band, and second- 
arily by the presence of Greene's army — Greene's subsequent campaign 
reviewed and discussed — Large number of prisoners taken by the partisan 
bands forces a general exchange of prisoners, and recovery of territory 
releases others from their paroles — Deplorable condition of Ninety Six 
District — Governor Rutledge's efforts to restore order — Summary of 
events and table of battles fought in the State during the year — The 
surrender of Cornwallis practically ends the war, but fighting not yet 
over in South Carolina. 



CONTENTS XXUl 



CHAPTER XXIV 

Governor Rutledge Issues writs of election for General Assembly and 
sends them to the brigadier-generals to execute — Charge of " Cassius " that 
he dictated who were to be returned — Senators and representatives re- 
turned almost exclusively from the exiles to St. Augustine and officers of 
the State troops and militia — Some of the distinguished men among them 
mentioned — Assembly called to meet at Jacksonborough — Reasons there- 
for — Assembly convenes — A quorum present — A most notable assem- 
blage — Remarkable because the first composed of representatives from all 
parts of the State — Officers elected — Governor's address — Replies thereto 
of Senate and House of Representatives — Greene extolled — But little 
notice taken of Sumter, Marion, or Pickens. 



CHAPTER XXV 

The suggestions of Governor Rutledge in his address carried out — 
Another governor to be elected under constitution of 1778 — Tory rumor 
that the aristocratic party would nominate Ralph Izard, and the back 
country people Sumter — Christopher Gadsden elected, but declines — His 
speech on doing so — John Mathews elected governor and Richard Hutson 
lieutenant-governor — Members of Privy Council elected — Several acts 
passed — Following Governor Rutledge's recommendation, committee ap- 
pointed to purchase an estate for General Greene — Action of Assembly 
soon followed by complaints — Intrigues charged — Assembly proceeds to 
confiscation and amercement of Tories — Recital of acts upon the sub- 
ject — Classes into which Tories were divided for purposes of the act 
— Commissioners appointed to carry out act — The Amercement Act — 
Christopher Gadsden opposes these acts — Opposition thereto — " Cassius's " 
objections to same — Marion's letter to Peter Horry on subject — Acts 
really measures of revenue, not of revenge — Great injustice and partiality 
in same — Act applied almost exclusively to Low-Country Tories — But few 
of Up-Country mentioned in them — Partiality of act further shown — 
Effect of " Cassius's " protest — Acts of relief subsequently passed in many 
cases. 

CHAPTER XXVI 

Great changes in the situations of the armies during the year 1781 — 
Leslie, now in command of British forces, restricted for supplies — Sends 
out raiding parties from several points — Major Coffin's raid — Colonel 



XlClV CONTENTS 

Richardson's party routed — Captain Campbell's death — General St. Clair 
at length arrives — General Wayne sent to Georgia — General Barnwell 
to cooperate with Wayne — Dissension in Marion's brigade — Question as 
to ranli between Peter Horry and Maham — Marion detained at Jackson- 
borough — Correspondence between Green, Horry, and Marion — Greene 
hesitates to decide — At length does so in favor of Horry — But offends 
both parties — A new character appears on British side — Count Rum ford 
— Then Colonel Thompson — His brilliant raids — Affairs at Wambaw and 
Tidyman's plantation — Disperses Marion's brigade — Attempts to sur- 
prise and take Greene himself, but fails — Horry and Maham's regiments 
consolidated under Maham — Horry resigns — But is appointed to the 
command of Georgetown — Maham captured — Devaux ravages Stephen 
Bull's plantation and burns Slieldon Church — Raids along the rivers and 
creeks of Low-Country — Wayne and Barnwell's expedition on the Savan- 
nah — General Barnwell resigns. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

Upon adjournment of General Assembly Greene moves to Bacon's 
bridge — Contraband trade opened with Charlestown, connived at by both 
Governor Rutledge and General Greene — Greene plans capture of the 
town, but abandons the effort — Rudulph's brilliant capture of a British 
galley — Greene appeals to Congress for supplies — Act of Assembly pro- 
hibiting impressments, but undertaking to support the army — Greene's 
dissatisfaction with arrangement — Complains to Governor Mathews of 
Mr. Hort the commissary — The governor supports Hort — General dis- 
content in Continental line — Mutiny of the Pennsylvania troops — Execu- 
tion of Sergeant Cornell — Rudulph's affair at Dorchester — Pickens's 
expedition against the Cherokees — Truces between Whigs and Tories — 
Renewed hostilities — Affair of Watson and Butler — Sergeant Vardell 
killed — Another raid by Bloody Bill Cuningbam — His party finally 
dispersed. 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

Correspondence between General Leslie and General Greene about 
Carolina confiscation acts and British sequestrations — Resolution carried 
in British Commons to put an end to war — Sir Guy Carleton com- 
mander-in-chief of British forces in America — Henry Laurens released 
from the Tower — ^And exchanged for Lord Cornwallis — Leslie proposes 
a truce and that he be allowed to procure supplies from the country — 



CONTENTS XXV 

Proposition declined — Leslie to take supplies by force — Marion re- 
organizes his brigade to resist — Light brigade made up under command 
of General Gist — Henderson, made brigadier-general, and Pickens draw in 
their forces to headquarters — Tories under Gainey again rise in the Pee 
Dee — Marion sent to put them down — Succeeds and makes another treaty 

— Depredations on the Cooper and Santee — Leslie fits out a fleet of small 
boats to gather supplies — Georgetown supposed its destination — Marion 
hastens there — Fleet ravages the Santee — Marion takes post at Wadboo 

— British foraging fleet proceeds to Combahee — Greene despatches Gist 
to protect country — Colonel Laurens leaves his post and joins Gist — 
Is drawn into an ambuscade and killed — Grief at his death notwith- 
standing just criticism upon his conduct — Sketches of the two Lau- 
renses, father and son — Major Fraser attacks Marion at Wadboo, is 
repulsed — Marion's warfare ends — Caperar's gallant action — Gist pro- 
ceeds to Beaufort — The Balfour galley captured — Greene's movements 

— Quarter House taken — British confined to lines around Charlestown — 
Indian incursions in Georgia — "Wayne nearly captured — Pickens makes 
another expedition against Cherokees — Makes treaty with them. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

Arrival of British fleet to cover evacuation of the town — Governor 
Mathews agrees to allow British merchants to remain for a limited time 
to dispose of their stock — Arrangements made between Governor 
Mathews and General Leslie for the return of negroes belonging 
to Americans — Commissioner appointed to carry out arrangement — 
Agreement evaded by British — Dissolved by Governor Mathews — 
Its impracticability — Kosciuszko's attempts to seize cattle and horses of 
the enemy — Captures a number of horses — These claimed by their 
owners as captured from them by the enemy — Greene refuses to return 
them to owners under the doctrine of postliminium — That doctrine dis- 
cussed — Council of war sustains Greene's position notwithstanding 
Colonel C. C. Pinckney's opinion to the contrary — Greene's conduct 
creates great resentment — Bitter hostility to the Continental army — 
Kosciuszko's attempt to capture wood party on James's Island defeated 
— Capt. Wilmot killed — Marion refuses to disturb British watering 
party at Lemprifere's Point — Would shed no more blood — General 
Moultrie is exchanged for Burgoyne — His journey home — Scene at his 
plantation — The faithfulness of his negro slaves — Arrangements be- 
tween Greene and Leslie for the evacuation of the town — The evacuation 
described. 



MAPS AND PLANS 

1. The Battle-fields of South Carolina, 1775-1782 Frontispiece 

BETWEEN PAGES 

2. Plan of Battle of Hobkikks Hill .... 181-182 

3. Plan of Siege of Ninety Six 277-278 

4. Plan of Battle of The Eutaws 440-441 

5. Map showing Seat of War after Edtaw . . . 480-481 



HISTORY OE SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE 
EEVOLUTION, 1780-1783 



»o>Oio 



CHAPTER I 

1780 

S- CE his defeat at Camden, Gates, crushed in spirit and 
ubdued in tone, had been in Hillsboro, North Carolina, 
making feeble efforts to collect and organize the shattered 
remnants of his vanquished army. While Davie with his 
little band, and Sumter, Marion, Lacey, Hill, the Hamp- 
tons, Bratton, Winn, Williams, and McCall of South 
Carolina; Shelby, Sevier, Cleveland, Davidson, Graham, 
and the McDowells of North Carolina, and Campbell all 
the way from Virginia, and Clark from Georgia, were 
organizing volunteer partisan corps and assailing upon 
every opportunity the British outposts, fighting pitched 
battles, often with victory, and capturing large numbers 
of the enemy, the remains of the Continental army were 
lying idle in North Carolina — waiting, it was said, for 
reenforcements and supplies. 

Congress had not indicated any dissatisfaction with the 
conduct of Gates when the news of his defeat and the 
destruction of his army had been first received. It was 
not, indeed, until near two months after — the 18th of 
October, 1780 —that a resolution was passed requiring the 
Commander-in-chief to order a court of inquiry upon his 
conduct, and to appoint some other officer to the command 

VOL. IV. — B 1 



ii ' HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of the Southern army in the meantime. General Wash- 
ington upon this at once appointed Major General Nathan- 
ael Greene, of Rhode Island, to the field hitherto so 
unfortunate to Continental officers. 

General Greene, who was now to assume command of 
the Southern Department, and to hold it until the end of 
the struggle, was a native of Rhode Island, born the 27th 
of May, 1742, the son of a Quaker who followed the joint 
occupations of blacksmith and farmer. From his early 
youth he was employed in assisting his father, but suc- 
ceeded, notwithstanding, in acquiring much general in- 
formation, and made a special study of mathematics, 
history, and law. At Coventry, where he removed to take 
charge of a foi^ge of his own, he was the first to establish 
a public school ; and in 1770 he was chosen a member of 
the General Assembly of Rhode Island. Sympathizing 
strongly with the Revolutionists he, in 1774, joined tb 
Kentish Guards, and on this account was expelled fro' 
the Society of Friends. Regretting but disregarding th-« 
action of the religious body to which he had belonged, We 
devoted himself to the study of the science of war through 
such books as he could obtain, chief of which were Caesar's 
campaigns and Turenne's Memoirs. So prominent had he 
become in military matters of the colony that, when the 
first blood of the Revolution was shed at Lexington, he 
was at once made Brigadier General to command " the 
army of observation " of fifteen hundred men raised by 
Rhode Island, the greater part of which, by the 8th of 
May, 1775, was organized and on its march to Boston. 
So efficient an officer did he prove to be that, by the time 
Washington reached Boston and assumed command of the 
American forces there, he regarded Greene's brigade, 
though raw and irregular and undisciplined, " under much 
better government than any around Boston " ; and not 



IN THE REVOLUTION 6 

long after Colonel Reed, Washington's military secretary, 
wrote that Greene's "command consisted of three regi- 
ments, then the best disciplined and appointed in the whole 
American army." ^ He did not take part at Bunker Hill 
on the 17th, for he was stationed on the opposite end of 
the line. On the evacuation of Boston, Greene marched 
with Washington to New York, where, on August 9, he 
was promoted to the rank of Major General, and the troops 
on Long Island were formed into a division under his 
command. Having reached this high position without 
ever having been engaged in battle. General Greene was so 
unfortunate as to be taken ill just at the time when the 
battle of Long Island took place. 

Greene first came under fire in the action at Harlem 
Plains on the 16th of September. It was by his advice that 
the attempt was made to hold Fort Washington, and upon 
its surrender with the garrison, Washington and himself 
ivere equally blamed, he for his advice, and W^ashington 
'or his indecision, whereby the untenable position had not 
jeen evacuated. This was one of the events upon which 
the opposition to Washington relied for his disparagement. 
As a division commander General Greene had taken part 
in the battle of Trenton, at Brunswick, at Brandywine, at 
Germantown, and at Monmouth ; also at the siege of New- 
port, Rhode Island, under Sullivan. At Washington's re- 
quest, in 1778, he had taken charge of the quartermaster's 
department, then in a state of chaos, upon the condition, 
however, that he should not lose his right of command in 
action — a condition which he enforced at the battle of 
Monmouth. Though Washington, who had practically 
forced the office upon him, declared that he had performed 
the duties of the position to his satisfaction, it cannot be 

^ Great Commanders Series, General Greene, by Francis Vinton Greene, 
1893, 23-24. 



4 / HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

said that he had made any marked success in that depart- 
ment — his administration of it, indeed, was assailed as in- 
competent and extravagant, and even grave charges were 
intimated, but as these were attributed to the same source 
as the calumny against Washington himself, they were 
treated alike.^ His abrupt, if justifiable, resignation iuj 

1 "We do not wish to encumber these pages with anything unnecessary! 
to the history of South Carolina, to which this work is devoted. We shali 
not therefore go at any length into the controversy of the times in regarc"? 
to the administration of the quartermaster's department by Gene" i 
Greene in 1778-80, but will content ourselves generally with Was' 
ton's assurance that he had conducted the various important duties 
with capacity and diligence, and altogether to his satisfaction, Was> 
ton adding, " and as far as I had any opportunity of knowing, with 
strictest integrity." (Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 147.) In view, 
however, of events which occurred at the close of his command in South 
Carolina, clouding his reputation, but from which it is fair to say that Con- 
gress, as far as it could, ultimately vindicated his memory, we must add 
that very recently it has come to light, that, upon assuming the duties of 
that office. General Greene, the quartermaster, and Colonel W..dsworth, 
the commissary general, had formed a secret business partnership with 
Barnabas Deane, of Connecticut, the brother of Silas Deane, under the 
name of Barnabas Deane & Co., the business of which was that of general 
traders in staples and manufactures that were most needed for the use of 
the army, or that could be most advantageously exchanged for provisions 
or forage, the very articles of which these officers, as quartermaster and 
commissary general were purchasers for the government; the impro- 
priety of which will be more appreciated when it is remembered that the 
emoluments of these officers consisted in commissions upon their accounts. 
Moreover that it appears from letters of General Greene which have been 
found that at his instance the most profound secrecy was observed as to 
the connection of Colonel Wadsworth and himself with the matter, 
Greene writing to Wadsworth : — 

" You may remember I wrote you sometime since that I was desirous 
that this copartnership between Mr. Deane, you, and myself should be 
kept a secret. I must beg leave to impress this matter upon you again, 
and to request you to enjoin it upon Mr. Deane. The nearest friend I have 
in the world shall not know of it from me, and it is my wish that no 
mortal person should be acquainted with the persons forming the company 
except us three. I would not wisli Mr. Deane even to let his brother 



IN THE REVOLUTION 5 

consequence, in 1780, had nearly lost him his commission 
in the line as well. Upon the treason of Arnold he had 
been appointed president of the court wliich tried and con- 
demned Major Andr(3 to death; and upon his application 
for the command of West Point it had been immediately 
granted him, General Washington taking occasion to ob- 
serve, however, that it would not be an independent com- 
mand, as he himself would probably make his headquarters 
in that vicinity. Such was the career of the officer now 
sent to command the Southern Department. He had cer- 
hily seen some service, and had had experience, not only 
1 the field, but, what was of importance, in the administra- 
tive department of an army as well. He had not as yet, 
however, exercised an independent command, nor conducted 
a battle except under the eye and direction of another. 
He was now for the first time to be thrown entirely upon 
his own resources in the field, and that in a department 
which covered the whole country south of Pennsylvania, 

know it. Not that I apprehend any injury from him ; but he may inad- 
vertently let it out into the broad world, and then, I am persuaded, it 
would work us a public injury," etc. 

It also appears that, to preserve this secrecy, as an additional precaution 
against discovery it was agreed that the correspondence between the par- 
ties should be conducted partly in cipher for which an" alphabet of figures " 
was adopted, Greene urging also the use of a fictitious name, as that 
would "draw another shade of obscurity over the business, and render it 
impossible to find out their connection." Nevertheless, the author from 
whose article this account is taken closes his paper with this statement, 
" The business reputation of the firm [i.e. Barnabas Deane & Co.] was 
high at home and abroad ; the integrity and honor of its partners with- 
out stain ; nor is there a vestige of evidence that its founders took undue 
advantage of their official positions to extend the business or increase the 
profits of the firm." 

See the whole story in an article over the signature of J. Hammond 
Trumbull, LL.D., entitled "A business Firm of the Revolution, Barnabas 
Deane & Co.," in vol. XII (1884) of the Marjazine of American History 
with Notes and Queries, edited by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, pp. 17-28. 



6 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and in which as yet no Continental officer had achieved 
success or glory. 

The appointment of General Greene had been solicited 
by John Mathews, a delegate in Congress from South 
Carolina, who, as chairman of the committee of that body 
conferring Avith Washington upon the condition of the 
army, was in a position to entitle his opinion, as to the 
choice of a commander, to great weight, to which he added 
the assurance that he was authorized to make the request 
by the delegates of the threS Southern States. " Besides 
ray own inclination to this choice," wrote Washington to 
Greene on the 14th of October, 1780, informing him of his ap- 
pointment, " I have the satisfaction to inform you that from 
a letter I have received it concurs with the wishes of the 
delegates of the three Southern States most immediately 
interested in the present operations of the enemy, and I 
have no doubt it will be perfectly agreeable to the senti- 
ments of the whole." ^ Writing to Mr. Mathews he said, 
" You have your wish in the officer appointed to the South- 
ern command — I think I am giving you a general, but 
what can a general do without men, without arms, without 
clothing, without shoes, without provisions ? " ^ 

General Greene was at West Point, to the command of 
which he had been assigned, as we have seen, when he 
received Washington's letter informing him of his new 
appointment. Washington's headquarters were at the 
time at Prakeness, near Passaic Falls, in New Jersey, 
and his letter informed Greene that his instructions 
would be prepared when he arrived there on his journey to 
his new field. Greene set out upon his journey on the 18th 
of October, and found his instructions at headquarters, as 
he had been told to expect. These directed him to pro- 
ceed at once to the Southern army in North Carolina and 
1 Wasbingtou's ]Vritincjs, vol. VII, 257. 2 /jj^., 277. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 7 

to take command. Uninformed as he was, wrote Wash- 
ington, of the enemy's force in that quarter, or even of 
their own, or of their resources for carrjdng on the war, he 
could give no positive instructions, but must leave Greene 
to govern himself entirely according to his own prudence 
and judgment. Aware that the nature of the command 
would offer embarrassment of a singular and complicated 
nature, he relied, he said, upon Greene's abilities and exer- 
tions for everything his means would enable him to effect. 
He gave him a letter to Congress informing that body of 
his appointment, and requesting them to afford him such 
support as the situation and good of the service demanded. 
Greene was directed to take the orders of Congress on his 
way to his command, and was informed that Washington 
proposed to send Baron Steuben to the South with him, 
whom he was to employ as Inspector General with suit- 
able rank if Congress approved, and that he had put Major 
Lee's corps under marching orders to join him.^ 

Upon his arrival in Philadelphia, General Greene pro- 
ceeded at once to inform himself as fully as he could of 
the force and condition of the Southern army, and to make 
provision for supplying its present and future wants. 
From Congress he could obtain nothing. And when the 
depressed credit and empty coffers of Congress dissipated 
every hope of present relief, he tried to obtain a voluntary 
contribution or loan among the merchants with which to 
procure clothing for the few troops in the field. This also 
failed. Colonel Joseph Reed, then Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania,^ let him have some arms from the depot of that State, 
— and even the wagons to transport them were princijDally 

1 Washington's Writings, vol. VII, 271 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. 
I, 326. 

2 Colonel Reed is spoken of by Johnson and others as Governor, and 
we have followed the usual title given ; but he was not in fact a Gov- 



8 ' HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

obtained from his kindness — the Governor relying on the 
armories of the United States and the pledge of Washing- 
ton for his indemnity. All the support or encouragement 
General Greene received from Congress was the annexa- 
tion of Delaware and Maryland to his department, the 
money to bear the expense of his journey to his command, 
and the promise to promote Major Henry Lee to a lieu- 
tenant colonelcy. 1 

On the 23d of November General Greene took his way to 
the South, accompanied by Baron Steuben and his two aids, 
Major Burnet and Colonel Lewis Morris, Jr.^ By the re- 
duction of the Virginia contingent in number of men to 
each regiment, and still more by the actually reduced state 
of the numbers in service, many officers of the Virginia Con- 
tinental line were now out of employment, and from these 
General Greene selected the additional members of his 
staff. Colonel Edward Carrington was appointed Quarter- 
master General, and Captains Nathaniel Pendleton and 
William Pierce, Jr., aides-de-camp. To Major Robert 
Forsyth, who was in the last days of the war to involve him, 
whether consciously or not, in a most corrupt and disgrace- 
ful affair, he offered the post of commissary of prisoners, 
and upon his declining it, recommended him to the Com- 
missary General for the post of his deputy in tlie Southern 
Department.^ 

In the grand ministerial plan of operations by which, it 
will be recollected, the war was to be carried by the Brit- 
ish "from South to North," Sir Henry Clinton, the Com- 

eruor. He was President of the Supreme Council of Pennsylvania, an 
office in which he exercised the duties of Governor, and hence so called. 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 328. 

2 Ibid., 329. Heitman in his Register of Continental Officers gives 
Major Burnet's name as Robert ; but in three letters in the Sumter MSS., 
signed by him, the initial J is used — " J. Burnet." 

8 Ibid., 333. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 9 

mander-in-cliief, was to have sent an expedition to Virginia 
to meet the victorious Cornwallis as he marched in triumph 
from South Carolina, and together they were to move on 
to Baltimore and then on farther north. This plan, as we 
have seen, had been interrupted by the partisan bands 
of the South, and Lord Cornwallis had been compelled 
to fall back to Winnsboro in South Carolina, there to 
wait for reenforcements under Leslie, who had been de- 
spatched by Sir Henry Clinton to Virginia in accordance 
with the plan, but who was now diverted to South 
Carolina to make up for the losses inflicted upon his 
lordship. 

On reaching Virginia, General Greene found that the 
expedition which had sailed from New York under General 
Leslie had, in obedience to first orders, put into Chesa- 
peake, and that Leslie had taken possession of Norfolk 
and Portsmouth, and had proceeded to secure possession 
of both places by strongly fortifying the latter. Corn- 
wallis's orders calling him to his assistance, by the way of 
Charlestown, had not yet reached Leslie, and Virginia was 
now intent only on her own defence against this threaten- 
ing invasion. Leaving Baron Steuben to command in that 
State, Greene pressed on to Hillsboro. Arriving there, he 
found the place abandoned both by the officers of the 
State and the Continental army. The latter had been 
moved forward to Charlotte, and the invasion of Leslie 
had frightened the former away to Halifax in apprehension 
of danger to that quarter of North Carolina. Informing 
Governor Nash ^ at Halifax by letter that he had provided 

1 Abner Nash, member of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina 
in 177G, speaker of that body, aiicl also of the Senate in 1779. Gov- 
ernor from 1779 to 1781. A brother of General Francis Nash, who had 
commanded the First North Carolina Continental Regiment at the battle 
of Fort Moultrie, and was afterwards killed at Germantown. 



10 HIStORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

for the defence against Leslie, and urging that the Gov- 
ernor should turn his attention to the more pressing object 
of preparing to meet Lord Cornwallis in the opposite quar- 
ter, he hurried on to Charlotte, where he arrived on the 2d 
of December, and assumed command on the 4th, 1780. 

On reaching Charlotte, Greene found that he had under 
his command the celebrated Daniel Morgan, who had 
served with him at the siege of Boston, and afterwards 
had joined Arnold's expedition to Canada, in which, after 
suffering great hardships, he had been made prisoner, and 
upon being exchanged had greatly distinguished himself at 
Saratoga, but had since resigned. As early as the 16th of 
June, Congress had directed that " Daniel Morgan of the 
Virginia line " with the old rank of Colonel should be " em- 
ployed in the Southern army as Major General Gates should 
direct." It does not appear that Morgan had been in any 
haste to avail himself of the honor of serving under the 
hero of Saratoga ; he, himself one of the most distinguished 
leaders the Revolution had produced, like Schuyler, had 
had just cause to be aggrieved at the slight recognition 
by Gates of his services in the capture of Burgoyne. But, 
when two months after his appointment he heard of the 
defeat at Camden and dispersion of Gates's army, he hurried 
to the scene of disaster, and before the end of September 
arrived at Hillsboro.^ He brought with him only a few 
followers — young men who had come to share in the ser- 
vice and honor of helping to retrieve the cause in the South. 
Gates had gladly welcomed him, and had drafted four hun- 
dred Continental infantry under Lieutenant Colonel 
Howard of the Maryland line,^ two companies of Vir- 
ginia militia under Captains Triplett and Taite, and the 



1 Bancroft's Hist, of the U. S., vol. V, 476 (ed. 
8 John Eager Howard of Maryland. Then commanding Second Mary- 
land Continental Regiment. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 11 

remnants of the cavalry of Colonel White and of Colonel 
William Washington, which had been cut up at Lenud's 
Ferry on the 8th of May, and had since been out of action, 
now amounting to one hundred men, as an independent corps 
for his command. ^ To these were added a company of 
sixty riflemen under the command of Major Rose. Colonel 
White, who was in disrepute, had been given a leave of 
absence. In the meanwhile Congress had promoted Morgan 
to the rank of Brigadier General, his commission being 
dated 13th of October, 1780. 

General Gates had made some reorganization of the 
shattered fragments of his army before the arrival of General 
Greene. The remnants of the Maryland and Delaware 
regiments had been consolidated into one, and the super- 
numerary officers sent to their respective States to obtain 
recruits and prepare them for service. This consolidated 
regiment was placed under the command of Colonel Otho 
H. Williams of Maryland,^ and to it was added a company 
of light infantry. About the 16th of September, Colonel 
Buford had arrived from Virginia with what was left of 
his unfortunate regiment,^ reenforced by about two hundred 
raw recruits, all of them in ragged condition ; and on the 
18th the remains of Colonel Porterfield's corps,^ about fifty 

^ Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 222. Johnson puts the number 
of White's and "Washington's cavalry at but seventy. Life of Greene, 
vol. I, 313. 

2 Otho Holland "Williams entered the service as First Lieutenant, Cresap's 
Company Maryland Riflemen, June 21, 1775; Major of Stephenson's 
Maryland and Virginia Regiment of Riflemen, June 27, 1776 ; vrounded 
at Fort "Washington, November 16, 1776 ; Colonel Sixth Maryland, 
December 10, 1776; transferred to First Maryland, January 1, 1781. — 
Heitman. 

' For an account of the defeat and slaughter of Buford's regiment on 
the 29th of May, 1780, see Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevolution, 1775-80 
(McCrady), 519, 52-3. 

* See Ibid., 674, 675. 



12 ^ HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

effective men, had come in under Captain Drew. General 
Gist had gone home to Maryland to superintend recruiting 
there. General Smallwood had remained, as he was com- 
missioned by the State of North Carolina to a command in 
the militia. Upon Cornwallis's retreat, after the destruc- 
tion of Ferguson's party at King's Mountain, Gates had 
advanced to Charlotte, and Smallwood had taken post at 
Providence, six miles below. 

Greene's first hours of command were brightened by the 
news of a bloodless success by Colonel Washington. 
Colonel Rowland Rugeley, at whose house, it will be recol- 
lected. Governor Rutledge had nearly been overtaken by 
Tarleton, when escaping from Charlestown in May, ^ had 
since been commissioned in the British militia, and was 
just about to be appointed a Brigadier General in that ser- 
vice. A stockade had been made around his house, and in 
it he had collected 112 men under his command. Against 
this post Morgan sent Colonel Washington with a small 
force. Washington, repeating Gillespie's device in the 
capture of Mills's militia at Hunt's Bluff, in August, ^ threw 
up a few feet of earth into the form of an earthwork, and, 
mounting behind it some logs with the appearance of field 
guns, demanded an immediate surrender. Rugeley, de- 
ceived and frightened by the appearance of artillery, obeyed 
the summons and surrendered with his whole party.^ 
" Rugeley will not be made a brigadier," wrote Cornwallis 
to Tarleton. " He surrendered, without firing a shot, him- 
self and 103 rank and file, to the cavalry only. A deserter 
of IMorgan assuies us that the infantry men never came 
witliin three miles of the house."* 

1 Hist, of So. Ca. in the lievolution, 1775-^SO (McCrady), 517. 

2 ma., G46. 

5 Ramsay's lievolution of So. Ca.., vol. 11, 187-188. 
* Tarleton's Campaigns, 205. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 13 

But besides this pleasing incident Greene found the con- 
dition of things deplorable indeed. The whole number of 
regulars by the returns made to him did not exceed eleven 
hundred, and of these eight hundred could not be mustered 
with arms and clothing fit for duty. Such was the condi- 
tion of some of Washington's few cavalry that they were 
ordered back to Virginia, upon his representation that they 
were too naked to be put upon service. The country around 
Charlotte was exhausted. It had been the scene of opera- 
tion on both sides for the last six months, and first one 
army and then the other had lived upon it. His army was 
then subsisting by small daily collections made upon the 
credit and by the influence of individuals who had patriot- 
ically engaged in the business. Indeed, the country about 
him was so much exhausted that Colonel William Polk, 
the commissary then acting as such from mere patriotism, 
declared the army could not subsist for a week longer. 
To draw provisions from any distance was impracticable 
for want of the means of transportation. Colonel Polk 
declined any longer to continue the struggle to supply the 
army. General Greene determined at once to remove the 
army to another position and to find a commissary .1 

It had so happened that just at this time Colonel Davie 
had left the field in disgust. When Cornwallis fell back 
from Charlotte in October, Davie, with three hundred 
mounted infantry, had advanced and occupied the out- 
post at Landsford. There the term of his gallant little 
band, which he had raised and equipped at his own ex- 
pense, expired in November. General Small wood, then in 
command of the North Carolina State troops, entertaining 
the highest opinion of Davie's military talents, desired to 
retain his services, and at liis suggestion application for 
the purpose was made to tlie "Board of War" of North 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 337, 342. 



14 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Carolina, then sitting at Halifax. This board, lately cre- 
ated with extraordinary powers, overshadowed the Gov- 
ernor, though by the constitution the latter was " captain 
general and commander-in-chief." It was given to this 
board " to have the direction of the militia, provide am- 
munition, stores, appoint officers and remove such as they 
might deem proper, establish posts, and carry on military 
operations." The board was composed of three men who 
were unfit for such a position and incompetent for the du- 
ties. As was to have been anticipated, collisions occurred 
between the Governor and this body. Colonel Davie's ap- 
plication made to the board was by it referred to the Gov- 
ernor, and between the two it was not even considered. 
Greatly offended at such treatment. Colonel Davie retired. 
It was just at this time that General Greene, in need of one 
to fill the position of commissary, who possessed talents, 
integrity, influence, and zeal, appealed to Davie to under- 
take the duties. It has been seen that the talents and 
courage of this officer particularly fitted him for command 
in the field ; combining, as it was said of him, the dash of 
Sumter and the caution of Marion. His tastes and ambi- 
tion were all for active service. The office of commissary 
involved labor, untiring exertion, and great responsibility, 
while it could add to him but little honor and no oppor- 
tunity of distinction. No one knew better than Greene 
himself the sacrifice it would cost one of Davie's tempera- 
ment to accept the duties of such a position, for he himself 
had gone through the same trial when taken from the field 
by Washington and made Quartermaster General. Indig- 
nantly he had then written to Washington : " There is a 
great difference from being raised to an office and descend- 
ing to one, which is my case. There is also a great differ- 
ence between serving where you have a fair prospect of 
honor and laurels, and where you have no prospect of 



IN THE REVOLUTION 15 

either, let you discharge your duties ever so well. 
Nobody," he contemptuously adds, " ever heard of a 
quartermaster in history." ^ Taught by experience the 
sentiments of one who, like Davie, had exhibited such 
genius for the field, he does not seek to find a position in 
which Davie's great talents might further be displayed to 
the benefit of the country, but, as Washington had called 
upon him, he called upon Davie. Fortunately, strong as 
was Davie's love of fame, his love for his country was 
stronger. Ill suited as were the duties of the position to 
his stirring and chivalric temper, his patriotism overrode all 
personal ambition. He did not stop to complain that no one 
ever heard of a commissary in history, but accepted at once 
the trust, and from this time he became the faithful sub- 
ordinate, confidant, and friend of Greene. Performing the 
arduous duties of supplying the army with subsistence, his 
previous knowledge of the country and experience in the 
field were always as much at the service of his chief as if he 
was to share the honors to which they contributed. To the 
appointment of commissary in the Continental army in be- 
half of the United States, were added also appointments 
of State commissary both for North and South Carolina. ^ 

On the 16th of December the troops were put under 
marching orders, but incessant rains prevented them from 
abandoning their huts until the 20th. On that day 
they took up the line of march by Wadesboro to Haley's 
Ferry, where it was originally designed they should be 
posted, but on the recommendation of Kosciuszko, who 
accompanied General Greene as an engineer, they were 
moved down the east side of the Pee Dee nearly opposite 
Cheraw Hill, the present site of the town of Cheraw, 

^ Nathanael Greene, Great Commanders Series (F. V, Greene), 97. 
8 Wheeler's Hist, of No. Ca., 196 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 
342 ; vol. II, 116. 



16 ^ HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

then known as Chatham, m South Carolina.^ On this 
march tlie troops were under the immediate command of 
General Isaac Huger, who, it will be recollected, had been 
in Gates's army, and was one of the few officers of the 
Carolina Continental line not then in captivity. 

On the day the army was put under marching orders for 
the Pee Dee Morgan's corps was ordered to cross the 
Catawba and threaten the position of Lord Cornwallis at 
Winnsboro. He was directed to move down the west side 
of the CataAvba, where he would be joined by a body of 
volunteer militia of North Carolina under the command 
of General Davidson, and by the volunteers lately under 
the command of General Sumter. This force, with any 
other which might join him from Georgia, he was to 
employ either offensively or defensively, as his prudence 
and discretion might direct. Morgan was given entire 
command west of the Catawba, and all officers and soldiers 
engaged in the American cause were enjoined to obey him. 

General Greene was much pleased with the position he 
had taken on the Pee Dee. Judge Johnson, his biographer, 
gives this summary of his views in regard to it as expressed 
to his friends : ^ — 

" I am here in my camj) of repose, improving the discipline and the 
opportunity for looliing about me. I am well satisfied with the move- 
ment, for it has answered thus far all the purposes for which I intended 
it. It makes the most of my inferior force, for it compels my adver- 
sary to divide his, and holds him in doubt as to his own line of con- 
duct. He cannot leave Moi-gan behind him to come at me, or his 
posts at Ninety Six or Augusta would be exposed. And he cannot 
chase Morgan far, or prosecute his views upon Virginia, while I am 
here with the whole country open before me. I am as near Charles- 
town as he is and as near Hillsborough as I was at Charlotte; so lliafc 
I am in no danger of being cut off from my reenforcements, wliile an 
uncertainty as to my future designs has made it necessary to leave a 

1 Gregg's Old Cheraws, 119. 2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 350. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 17 

large detachment of the enemy's late reenforcements in Charlestown 
and move the rest up this side of the Wateree. But although there 
is nothing to obstruct my march to Charlestown, I am far from having 
such a design in contemplation in the present relative positions of the 
two armies. It would be putting it in the power of my enemy to 
compel me to fight him. At present my operations must be in the 
country where the rivers are fordable, and to guard against the chance 
of not being able to choose my own ground." 

These comfortable assurances were soon to be rudely 
dispelled. 

So effectual had been the work of the partisan bands, as 
we have seen, that Lord Cornwallis had been forced to fall 
back from Charlotte to Winnsboro, and instead of his tri- 
umphal advance to Baltimore and thence on farther north, 
his lordship had been compelled to send orders to Leslie to 
abandon his former instructions, and to proceed by sea to 
Charlestown and thence to reenforce him in the interior. 
While, therefore, Greene was lying in the " camp of 
repose " at Cheraws, tliis movement on the part of the 
British was taking place, and before the middle of Decem- 
ber General Leslie arrived at Charlestown with 2300 men 
and found orders awaiting him to join his lordship with 
the Brigade of the Guards, the Hessian regiment of von 
Bose, 120 yagers, and a detachment of light dragoons, 
amounting in all to 1530 men. The remainder of Leslie's 
corps was destined to strengthen Lord Rawdon at Camden, 
and the garrison at Charlestown. ^ 

While General Greene was moving down to the Cheraws, 
Marion had been engaged in some very active movements 
against the British garrison at Nelson's Ferry, under Majors 
Mc Arthur and Coffin ;2 and between that and the High Hills 
of Santee. To cut off his retreat by the Pee Dee, a strong 

1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 184, 210. 

2 Major Archibald McArthur of the Seventy-first Regiment, and Major 
John Coffin of the New York Loyal Volunteers. 

VOL. IV, C 



18 - HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

British detachment had been pushed on from Cliarlestown. 
But Marion soon secured intelhgence of the movement, 
and divining its object retired across the country, and took 
a strong position on the north bank of Lynch's Creek, in 
the vicinity of his favorite retreat at Snow Island, where 
he kept a party to guard his boats and awe the Loyalists. 
From this point he communicated to General Greene, on 
the 27th of December, the arrival of General Leslie, and 
successively, Leslie's march for Camden, the return of a 
detachment which had marched to Georgetown, and the 
establishment of Colonel Watson near Nelson's Ferry Avith 
about two hundred men.^ 

Colonel Pickens and other influential men in Ninety Six 
District had been often urged to resume their arms in the 
American cause ; but to these appeals and remonstrances 
Pickens had, hitherto, consistently replied that his honor 
was pledged and that he was bound by the solemnity of an 
oath not to take up_ arms unless the conditions of that pro- 
tection were violated by the British, or those who acted 
under the Royal government. Hitherto, Cornwallis's inju- 
dicious and cruel order, after the battle of Camden, had not 
been rigorously enforced in this region ; but the time had 
now come when neutrality, even under the terms of paroles, 
would no longer be allowed ; and this district, which since 
the fall of Charlestown had taken little part in the struggle, 
was now to be the scene, not only of military operations, but 
of a civil strife far more terrible than legitimate warfare. All 
now who refused to take up arms in support of the British 
government were plundered of their property by parties of 
Loyalists and British troops. 

Chief among these marauders was Major James Dunlap,^ 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 358. Lieutenant Colonel John 
Watson-Tadwell Captahi and Lieutenant Colonel Foot Guards. — Index 
to Clinton- Cor mcall is Controversy (Stevens). 

2 Of the origin of this officer we have no account. 



ITST THE REVOLUTIOX 19 

who had taken a prominent part in the operations in the 
Spartan section during the preceding summer. He was a 
man of enterprise, a captain in the Queen's Rangers, a par- 
tisan corps raised in the fall of 177G from native Loyalists, 
mostly refugees from Connecticut and from the vicinity of 
New York. He was one of the officers picked by Ferguson 
for his select corps on coming to South Carolina. He had 
already exhibited a most sanguinary disposition in the 
operations in New Jersey, and had rendered himself infa- 
mous there by his barbarity. In the South his severities 
had already incensed the people against him. ^ It has been 
seen how he had sabred the sleeping Georgians at Earle's 
Ford, 2 the prominent part his dragoons had taken at Cedar 
Spring,^ and that he had been wounded at Cowan's Ford 
in North Carolina just before the battle of King's Mountain. * 
When Ferguson fell back from North Carolina to King's 
Mountain, Dunlap had been left wounded at the house of 
William Gilbert. There he is said to have been attacked 
and shot through the body, while lying in bed, in revenge 
for the death, by his hands, of Whigs in the neighborhood, 
and more especially for the death of a young woman whom 
he had abducted and who died while in his power. ^ It 

1 King''s Mountain and its Heroes, 159. 

2 Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevoliition, 1775-80 (McCrady), 614. 
^ Ibid., 637. 

*/6M., 755. 

^ Draper has presented the following interesting story as illustrating 
the times, and especially the character of this officer : — 

Major Dunlap -when wounded at Cowan's Ford had been removed to 
the house of Captain Gilbert, a loyal supporter of the King, who had gone 
on with Ferguson. Soon after he was taken in there, a party from the 
Fair Forest region rode iip, and Captain Gillespie, their leader, asked Mrs. 
Gilbert if Major Dunlap was not in the house. She, supposing that the 
party were Loyalists with some important communication for him, frankly 
replied that he was. She was soon disabused of her mistake, for the 
party told her that Dunlap had been instrumental in putting some of their 



20 , HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

was supposed by many that Dunlap had died of his wounds 
at that time, but he had not. He recovered, and as soon 
as he was able to ride was conveyed to Ninety Six. Indeed, 
neither wound received at that time could have been very 
serious, for he now, in December, but two months after, 
was again in the field at the head of his dragoons, plunder- 
ing and murdering as before. With his own troops and 
parties of Loyalists he made a general sweep over the coun- 
try. Colonel Pickens's house, notwithstanding his prom- 
ised protection, was plundered, and his property wantonly 
destroyed. Colonel Mc Call's family was left without a 
change of clothing or bedding, and a halter put around the 
neck of one of his sons, by order of Dunlap, with threats 
of execution, to extort secrets of which the youth was 
ignorant. 

Colonel Pickens, who had so stedfastly observed his 
parole, as involving his personal honor, now considered 
its conditions broken, and with many of his former officers 
and men determined to resume their arms in defence of 
their country. But Pickens was not one, even under 
such circumstances, to steal away quietly witliout openly 
avowing his purpose. As soon as his determination was 
taken, he sought an interview with Captain Ker, a British 
officer at White Hall, General Williamson's residence, 

friends to death, and had, moreover, abducted the beautiful Mary McRea. 
This lady was the affianced of Captain Gillespie himself, and Dunlap had 
seized and carried her off, as she would not encourage his amorous advances, 
and had kept her in confinement under which she had died of a broken 
heart. The party had come for revenge. Gillespie, uttering imprecations 
upon the head of the man who had destroyed his earthly hopes, mounted 
the stairs, and rushing into the room where Dunlap lay in bed, demanded, 
" Where is Mary McRea ? " " In heaven," was the reply. Whereupon 
Gillespie shot him through the body, and, supposing him dead, he and his 
party, mounting their horses, rode away. This, says Draper, is the tradi- 
tion sifted and collected as preserved in the Hampton family. — Kimfs 
3Iountain and its Heroes, 159, 160. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 21 

with whom he had become very intimate, to whom he 
disclosed liis intentions and assigned his reasons. Ker 
earnestly advised him against the measure, assuring him 
that his execution was certain, in case he should thereafter 
fall into the hands of the British, and that he would liter- 
ally light with a halter around his neck ; that though their 
countries were at war, he had given him proofs of personal 
friendship, and ardently hoped he might never fall into the 
power of the British government. To this Colonel Pickens 
replied that he had honorably and conscientiously adhered 
to the rules laid down in his protection, but that he now 
considered himself completely absolved from its obligations 
hy the plunder and wanton waste which had been com- 
mitted upon his plantation, and the insults and indignities 
which had been offered to his family. He requested Cap- 
tain Ker to communicate these remarks to Colonel Cruger, 
the commanding officer at Ninety Six, and to thank him for 
his civilities while he was under the protection of the 
British government. 

This state of things was communicated to the com- 
manding officer of the Georgia troops, who made another 
diversion into the neighborhood of Ninety Six, to favor the 
assemblage of Pickens and his friends in that quarter. At 
a council of officers, Colonel McCall was sent to invite the 
cooperation of Colonel Pickens; and Major Samuel Plam- 
mond was despatched to White Hall to Williamson, who, 
it will be recollected, upon the fall of Charlestown, had in 
vain urged his companions and followers in Ninety Six to 
retreat with him into North Carolina to carry on the war 
there, but who, accepting their decision, had given his parole 
and taken protection, to appeal to him, now that the British 
had violated its terms, once more to join his old friends in 
resistance. Major Hammond indeed was directed to seize 
his person and to bring him into camp, with or without his 



22 " HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

consent. This plan was probably resorted to upon the hope 
that Williamson, if involuntarily recaptured by the Amer- 
icans, would regard himself as released thereby from his 
parole. This hope was encouraged by the friendly dispo- 
sition which the General had evinced to the families of 
those who had espoused and adhered to the cause of their 
country. But though willing six months before, in the 
very darkest days of the war, to leave his home and con- 
tinue the struggle, even in another State if necessary, 
Williamson would not now resume his arms and rejoin his 
friends. He was taken by Hammond and brought to the 
Whig encampment at Long Cane ; but he escaped and made 
his way to Charlestown. It was generally believed that 
there he took a British commission, but there is no evidence 
of his having done so, and he certainly did not engage in 
any active military movement in their service. Indeed, it 
is said that he was one of those in the town from whom 
General Greene later obtained information of the British 
movements through the influence of Colonel John Laurens.^ 
Colonel Pickens being the senior militia officer in Ninety 
Six, in the absence of Williamson, assumed the command 
of such of the men of that District as would act with him, 
and marched towards the Pacolet River to join Morgan. 

Pickens was a great accession to the patriot cause. He 
was younger than either Sumter or Marion, had not the 
experience in war of either of them, but he had exhibited 
in the action at Kettle Creek enterprise and ability. These 
qualities he was still more to illustrate, and to render mili- 
tary service of high order. But it was the weight of his 
high personal character which now brought so much influ- 
ence to the cause of the country. His extreme conscien- 
tiousness in regard to the observance of his parole now 

1 McCall's Hist, of Ga., 353 ; Johnson's Traditions, 148-154 ; Johnson's 
Life of Crreene. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 23 

rendered his conduct all the more important to the cause 
of liberty. Many would now follow his example who 
would not have been influenced by him had he more lightly 
absolved himself from the restraints of his given word. 
Fully understanding the warning of Captain Ker, he and 
many of his followers devoted their lives to the cause, 
knowing that for them there would be no quarter if taken 
by the enemy, but that ignominious death would be their 
certain fate. They entered the war again, as Captain Ker 
had warned Pickens, literally with the halter around their 
necks. Men who knowingly faced such consequences and 
so dared to die were not easily to be conquered. 

In obedience to Greene's order, Morgan had crossed the 
Catawba, and moved through what is now York County, 
had crossed the Broad River above the mouth of the Paco- 
let, into what is now Union County, and there on the 25th 
of December took post at Grindal's Shoals on the Pacolet. 
Here Pickens, with Colonel McCall, joined him, at the head 
of about one hundred men, sending their families and slaves 
over the mountain for security. 

On the second day after Morgan's arrival on the Pacolet, 
an opportunity for enterprise presented itself which was 
promptly embraced. A body of Loyalists had advanced 
from the Savannah to Fair Forest Creek, to check the spirit 
of disaffection to British interests which had begun to man- 
ifest itself there, and had commenced their depredations 
upon settlements on that stream. Their distance was 
about twenty miles in advance of Morgan's, in the direction 
towards Ninety Six, and their number was reputed at 250. 
Colonel Washington, with his cavalry of 75 only in number, 
but of very superior quality, and 200 mounted volunteers 
under Lieutenant-Colonel McCall, consisting of a selection 
from his own men and Clarke's Georgians now under the 
command of Major John Cunningham, were despatched to 



24 - HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

dislodge this hody of Loyalists. The latter, learning of the 
approach of Washington, retreated about twenty miles to 
a place called Hammond's Store, in what is now Abbeville 
County, where, being covered as they su})poscd on their 
right by Lord Cornwallis at Winnsboro, and on their left 
by the post at Ninety Six, they halted in mistaken security. 
Washington pressed the pursuit with such rapidity and 
diligence that he overtook them early the next day, the 3d 
of December, after a march of forty miles, and instantly 
charged them. It was a flight and not a conflict that 
ensued. The killed and w^ounded of the enemy were re- 
ported at 150 and the prisoners at 40. There was little 
time for hesitation or room for pursuit, for Washington 
was now so far advanced between the enemy's posts, and 
so near Tarleton, at the head of 250 cavalry, that prompt 
measures alone could assure him safety. Washington would 
not, liowever, forego the opportunity of striking another 
blow. 

Robert Cuningham, who, it will be recollected, had 
been arrested by Williamson in 1775 and sent to Charles- 
town, wliere he had moderatelj^ but firmly, refused to 
recognize the authority of the new government, and whose 
arrest had created such indignation in the back country, 
continuing true to his allegiance to the King, had now 
been appointed by Cornwallis Brigadier of the Loyal mili- 
tia, as one who had by far the greatest influence in that 
region.! He was now posted in the stockade fort at Fer- 
guson's former camp at Williamson's plantation with about 
150 men. Thither Colonel Hayes ^ at the head of a detach- 

1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 205, 

2 ColouelJoseph Hayes of Salada served first as captain in all or nearly 
all of the services peformed by Colonel Williams in Georgia, Brier Creek, 
Stono campaign against the Cherokees, and at Savannah ; and in 1780 at 
Hanging Rock, Musgrove's Mills, and King's Mountain, where he succeeded 



IN THE REVOLUTION 25 

ment of infantry and Cornet Simons^ with a detachment of 
the cavahy were immediately despatched. As soon as the 
Americans were discovered General Cuningham and all 
his men abandoned the fort. Cornet Simons, coming up, 
stationed his detachment and, advancing with a flag, de- 
manded their surrender. Cuningham requested time to 
consult his officers and five minutes were given him for 
the purpose. In that short time the whole body of Tories 
ran off and dispersed through the woods. A few of them 
wore killed and some were taken. The fort, which con- 
tained a great deal of plunder taken from the Whig in- 
habitants, and was well stored with forage grain and other 
provisions for the use of the British army, was destroyed .^ 

to the conimaiui of Williams's men on his death. lie was also at Black- 
stock, and at Hammond's Store. — Kinr/s Mountain and its Heroes 
(Draper), 407-4()8. 

1 Cornet James Simons. This officer was the only Continental officer 
(or as far as is known Continental soldier) from South Carolina in this 
battle. 

2 Ramsay's Bevolution of So. Ca., vol. II, 195-196 ; Johnson's Life of 
Greene, vol. I, 363. 



CHAPTER II 

1781 

When the year 1781 came in it found Greene with his 
small army at the Cheraws on the Pee Dee, the position 
with which he was so much pleased; while Morgan at 
Grindal's Shoals on the Pacolet was threatening Ninety 
Six, and Marion from Snow Island was pushing his scout- 
ing parties on the road to Charlestown, his foraging parties 
nearly to Georgetown, and bringing in provisions to his 
snug retreat. Cornwallis, preparing for another attempt 
to carry out the ministerial plan of carrying the war from 
South to North by an advance into North Carolina, still 
lay at Winnsboro, between the Catawba and the Broad, 
with about thirty-five hundred fighting men ^ ; and Leslie 
was on the march to join Cornwallis with fifteen hundred 
more. 2 Leslie, instead of approaching Cornwallis by 
Granby ^ on the Congaree and marching up the Wateree or 
Catawba, his shortest route, was by his lordship's orders 
moving by the old way of Nelson's Ferry to Camden, thus 
placing a deep and rapid river and often impracticable 
swamps between tlie reenforcements he was bringing and 
the main army. Cornwallis had directed Leslie to pursue 
this route because of Greene's position at the Cheraws, 
which threatened Camden, and in order also to mislead 
Greene as long as possible as to his own intended move- 
ment. Leslie was much retarded by the waters in the 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 365. 
^ Tarleton's Campaigns, 216. 

8 Granby, or Friday's Ferry, is half a mile below present city of 
Columbia, on the opposite bank of the Congaree. 

26 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 27 

swamps, and did not get out of them until the 14th of Janu- 
ary ; and when he did he was halted at Camden, where 
he remained until Cornwallis was ready to move from 
Winnsboro.i 

In the meanwhile Morgan's position at Grindal's Shoals, 
Washington's attack and slaughter of the Tories at Ham- 
mond's Store on the 29th, and the dispersion of Cuning- 
ham's party at Williams's plantation on the 30th of December 
alarmed Cornwallis for the safety of Ninety Six, an alarm 
which was much increased by the growing disaffection in 
that region wliich hitherto had been the most loyal to the 
King of any part of the State. Curiously, too, while he knew 
that the fortifications at Ninety Six were sufficient to secure 
it against attack unless with artillery, he had failed to learn 
that Morgan was entirely deficient in that arm of the ser- 
vice. While waiting for Leslie to struggle through the 
swamps, Cornwallis determined to check the disaffection 
in the western part of the province and to clear his left 
flank of Morgan. Accordingly^ on the 1st of January, he 
ordered Tarleton over Broad River with his corps of 
cavalry and infantry of 550 men, the first battalion of the 
Seventy-first Regiment, consisting of 200, and two three- 
pounders. His instructions to Tarleton were that if Mor- 
gan was still at Williams's plantation or anywhere within 
his reach he should push him to the utmost. With his 
usual celerity Tarleton obeyed this order, and, leaving his 
baggage behind, crossed the Broad at Brierly's, now Stro- 
ther's. Ferry and advanced into what is now Union County 
some twenty miles. He had been directed by his lord- 
ship to inquire and report upon the condition of affairs in 
this region, and, finding that Washington had fallen back 
to Morgan on the Pacolet, and hearing tliat the reports of 
the rising of tlie people had been exaggerated, he halted 
1 Tarleton's Campaigns (notes), 148, 260. 



28 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

here and reported to Cornwallis that Ninety Six was safe 
and that Morgan was far distant. He requested that the 
baggage which he had left behind should be forwarded to 
him, and asked for the Seventeenth Light Dragoons and the 
Seventh Regiment, which latter he proposed to send to 
Ninety Six with a field-piece. He proposed to Cornwallis 
that when he advanced up the west side of the Broad his 
lordship should advance up the east, so that when he drove 
Morgan's corps from the Pacolet it would be forced to re- 
cross the Broad towards King's Mountain, where his lord- 
ship would be ready to fall upon it. To this plan Cornwallis 
agreed, and sent the reenforcements Tarleton asked. The 
Seventh Regiment, 200 men, and 50 dragoons of the Seven- 
teenth Regiment brought his baggage to Tarleton, wlio 
then received permission to retain the Seventh Regiment 
instead of sending it to Ninety Six. 

Cornwallis moved on Sunday, the 7th of January, a few 
miles to a place called McAllister's, and wrote Tarleton 
that he would remain there till Tuesday, the 9th, march 
to the crossroads on Wednesday, halt Thursday, and reach 
Bullock's Creek meeting-house, in what is now York County, 
on Saturday, the 13th. He did not, however, move from 
McAllister's until Saturday. He was waiting for Leslie, 
who was still in the swamps. On Sunday, the 14th, he was 
at Bull Run, about two miles southeast of the present town 
of Chester. From this place he informed Tarleton that 
Leslie was at last put of the swamps. 

Tarleton, on receiving the reenforcements of the Seventh 
and Seventeenth regiments, moved Avestwardly and crossed 
Indian Creek in the present Newberry County, and after- 
wards Dunkin's Creek in the present Laurens County, 
seeking practicable fords for the passage of the Enoree and 
Tyger rivers. These rivers were passed, on the 14th, 
above the Cherokee Road, and in the evening Tarleton ob- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 29 

taiiied information that Morgan guarded all the fords upon 
the Pacolet, that Cornwallis had reached Bull Run, and that 
Leslie had surmounted the difficulties which had retarded 
his march. Tarleton thereupon informed Cornwallis that he 
would endeavor to pass the Pacolet, and thus force Morgan 
to retreat up the Broad. He urged his lordship to proceed 
up the eastern bank of that river without delay, as such a 
movement, in cooperation with his, would undoubtedly 
stop the retreat of the Americans, cut off, as they would 
be, from the main army under Greene. Cornwallis, how- 
ever, still waited upon Leslie's movements, and detained 
him at Camden after he had passed the swamps until the 
16th in order to mislead Greene as to his own movements.^ 
Nor had he himself advanced at the time farther than 
Turkey Creek, in what is now York County, 25 miles to 
the southeast of Morgan's position, instead of having ad- 
vanced as many miles to the north on the route which the 
latter must have proceeded to join Greene or to seek 
shelter in North Carolina. It was not until the 18th that 
Leslie, by his orders, crossed the Catawba, and joined him 
in what was spoken of as the middle road, i.e. the route 
between the Catawba and the Broad. From the 14th to 
the 17th Tarleton was left without information as to his 
lordship's movements ; but having ascertained the position 
of Morgan's outposts, and supposing that tlie main army 
was now in Morgan's rear, he commenced his march on 
the evening of the 15th, directing his course to the old 
iron works which were situated higher up the river, indi- 
cating an intention of crossing it above Morgan's position, 
and thus to place his adversary between himself and the 
main army. Morgan, deceived by this stratagem, made a 
corresponding movement up the river, upon which Tarleton, 
silently decamping in tlie night, secured a passage below, 
' Cornwallis to Lord George Germain, Tarleton's Campaigns, (note) 260. 



30 ' HISTOKY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

witliin six miles of Morgan's camp, and made good his 
crossing before daylight. Upon this Morgan fell back, 
precipitately, towards Thicketty Creek.^ Tarleton then 
advanced to some log houses, formerly constructed by 
Major Ferguson, which lay midway between the British 
and Americans. Here he intended to take post with his 
whole corps behind the cabins, and await Morgan's move- 
ments, but a patrol discovering that the Americans were 
gone, Tarleton occupied their abandoned position, in which 
he found a quantity of provisions and half-cooked rations, 
so suddenly had Morgan been compelled to move. Here 
he remained during the 16th, and, supposing that his ad- 
versary was resolved to fly early on the morning of the 
17th, started in pursuit. 

The forces, British and American, about to be engaged, 
were as follows : On the British side Tarleton had his own 
Legion, which he puts at 550 men, the Seventh Regiment, 
200, and a detachment of tlie Seventeenth Dragoons, 50. 
To these were added the First Battalion of the Seventy- 
first Regiment, 200, and a detachment of the Royal Artil- 
lery to man the field-guns, about 50. So that Tarleton's 
force, by his estimate, was about 1000. The Americans 
contended that it amounted to 1150, and there certainly 
was a party of Loyalists with him, not included in his 
estimate, for he mentions the capture by such a party of a 
militia colonel from whom he obtained information in 
regard to Morgan's movements.^ These are also said to 
have been about 50,^ which may have brought his force up 
to the American estimate. 

Johnson, in his Life of dreene^^ asserts that Morgan's 

1 Tarleton's Campaigm, 221 ; Stedman's Ain. War, vol. II, 320 ; 
Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 226, 

2 Tarleton's Cnmpair/ns, 210, 211, 214. 

8 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 374. * Ihid., 346. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 31 

whole force on duty consisted of 290 regular infantry, 80 
cavalry, and 600 militia, in all, 970. General Greene, in his 
letter appointing Morgan to this command, informed him 
that it was to consist of the Marj^and line of 320, a detach- 
ment of the Virginia militia of 200, Washington's cavalry 
of from 60 to 100, and that he would be joined by a body 
of volunteer militia under General Davidson of North Car- 
olina, and those of South Carolina, lately under the com- 
mand of General Sumter.^ From a disagreement between 
Sumter and INlorgan the former's troops do not appear to 
have formed a part of the latter's command. In a letter 
of Morgan to Greene, written on the 15th of January, two 
days before the battle, he puts the militia from South Car- 
olina and Georgia at 200, and those from North Carolina 
at 140.2 Sq i\^r^^ i^ig whole force was 910. In a recent 
work ^ this statement is made as to the respective quota of 
militia from the States of North and South Carolina and 
Georgia. Accepting Morgan's statement as to the strength 
of the Continental troops and Virginia militia composing 
his corps, the author goes on to say — " To this were added 
McDowell's mounted North Carolina volunteers, 190 men, 
Davidson's Mecklenburg volunteers, a part of whom, how- 
ever, were from Try on, — in all 310 North Carolinians. 
Pickens's South Carolinians, 70 men, and the Georgians 
under McCall about 30 men." To this it may be ob- 
jected that Morgan's report to his commanding officer, 
immediately preceding the battle, is at least more likely to 
be correct as to the strength and composition of his force 
than estimates made long after ; and in his report Morgan 
gives 140 as the exact strength of the North Carolina mili- 
tia, and estimates the South Carolina and Georgia contri- 
bution at 200. The author of the work quoted, while 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 346. ^ Ji,ici. 

8 No. Ca., 1780-81 (Schenck), 205. 



32 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

severe upon Judge Johnson for alleged intemperate zeal on 
behalf of his State, South Carolina, has himself fallen into 
palpable errors in attempting to show mistakes by the 
author of the Life of Grreene. He states that Pickens's 
command proper was only 70 men, and McCall's G-eorgians 
were only 30 in number.^ He evidently supposes McCall 
himself to have been a Georgian. As has appeared, he was 
a South Carolinian from Ninety Six, having been in the 
service during the siege of Ninety Six in 1775, with a com- 
pany from that district.'-^ Fortunately for the fame of South 
Carolina, the historian of Georgia has given the account of 
the organization of Pickens's party. When this officer 
took the field he assumed command of an encampment of 
his followers at Long Cane, in Ninety Six District, and 
marched to join Morgan. The historian of Georgia goes 
on to say : " Lieutenant-Colonel McCall was ordered to 
make a selection of forty-five men, who, equipped as dra- 
goons, in ivlilch there were several Gieorgian^^ to act with 
Colonel Washington's regiment. Major John Cunningham 
commanded the Greorgia troops under the orders of Gieneral 
Morgan.''' McCall's mounted corps were, with the excep- 
tion of a few. South Carolinians.^ 

There was a marked difference in the character of the 
opposing forces at Cowpens from those who fought at 
King's Mountain. At King's Mountain there were no 
British regulars of the line on the one side nor Continen- 
tal regulars on the other. It was a battle between Amer- 

1 No. Ca., 1780-81 (Schenck), 201. 

2 James McCall, captain Ninety Six, Hist, of So. Ca, in the Bevolu- 
tion (McCrady), 9 ; commands expedition to capture Indian agent (ibid., 
189, 190); joins Siiiater on the Catawba (ibid., 033); joins Clarke in effort 
to recover Georgia (ibid., 733); with Clarke lays siege to Augusta (ibid., 
734); takes part under Sumter in battle of Fishdam (iliid., 821); in battle 
at Elackstock (ibid., 826); with Clarke moves against Ninety Six; takes 
part in battle of Long Cane and is wounded (ibid., 831-850). 

^ Hist. ofQa. (McCall), vol. II, 354, 355. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 33 

ican Tories, from North and South, and American Whigs, 
from the Carolinas and Virginia. Ferguson appears to 
have been the only British oljficer present. The liritish 
forces at Cowpens were nearly all regulars. The three 
regiments, Seventh, Seventeenth, and Seventy-first, and the 
Royal Artillery were all from the Britisli line ; and Tarle- 
ton's Legion, though raised at New York, were practically 
regulars. On the American side there were present the 
IVIaryland line and Washington's Dragoons of the Continen- 
tal Army. In the quality of troops, it has been supposed, 
saj^s Johnson, that the British had infinitely the advan- 
tage, but this was scarcely so. At least 800 or 400 of the 
enemy are said to have been new recruits and probably not 
yet disciplined or ever before in battle, and it appears that 
Tarleton's own corps, the famous British Legion, had been 
recruited from the prisoners taken at the battle of Camden, 
and it is said, seeing their own regiment opposed to them, 
would not proceed against them, but broke. On the other 
hand, besides the Continentals he commanded, such a body 
of militia as served under Morgan has seldom been collected 
in the field of battle. Two companies of them, under Cap- 
tains Triplett and Taite, were from Virginia, and were 
mostly veteran soldiers who had served out their enlist- 
ment and were now hired as substitutes by the drafted 
militia. The Georgians consisted of Clarke's veterans, vol- 
unteers, 100 in number, who had been almost the whole 
war in constant service, and a more dauntless little corps 
it would have been difficult to find. Their gallant Colonel 
did not share in the honors of the field, for he had lecently 
been disabled by a severe wound ; but they were led by 
two gallant officers, Cunningham and Jackson. ^ The 140 

1 In a letter written by Major .Jackson to General Morgan, dated Jan- 
uary 20, 1795, from the U. S. Senate chamber, he says: "The officers 
commanding . . . were Major Cunningham and Captain Samuel Hammond, 

VOL. IV. — D 



34 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

North Carolina Riflemen under Major McDowell had fought 
at Musgrove's Mills, King's Mountain, and in almost e very- 
action during the preceding summer, and had therefore 
seen service and were reliable.^ The rest of the militia 
were new men from Ninety Six District, South Carolina, 
under Pickens — 45 of them mounted under Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel McCall, and the remainder riflemen. These 
as yet had probably seen no service, but like their com- 
mander. Colonel Pickens, they had entered the field fully 
aware that for themselves there was no quarter to be 
asked, and realized that death upon the field was prefer- 
able to the ignominious end which would be theirs if taken. 
They were practised marksmen, and with the desperation 
of their situation, voluntarily assumed, were most formi- 
dable foes. Morgan's force was also most admirably offi- 
cered. The Regulars or Continentals were commanded by 
two distinguished officers; the North Carolina militia by 
Major McDowell, who had seen much service ; and Pickens, 
who commanded the South Carolinas, liad already com- 
manded with great success in the field and had now even 
gained the esteem of Morgan.^ No eulogium, says Johnson, 
is necessary to the reputation of Pickens ; but McCall is 
less known and has been too soon forgotten. He was 
amongst the most distinguished partisan leaders of his 
time ; unfortunately he did not live to see the issue of the 
contest in which he had taken part. Excelled by no one 
for activity, resolution, and intelligence, he fell a sacrifice 
to small-pox contracted in the field.^ 

When Tarleton turned his position on the Pacolet, Mor- 

George Walton, and Joshua Inman. . . . The detachment was under 
my immediate command and direction, although I acted also as brigade- 
major to all the militia present." — Atlanta Constitution, January 6, 1902. 

1 No. Ca., 1780-81 (Schenck), 201. 

2 Letter to Greene, Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 371. « Ibid, 373. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 35 

gan fell back to the Cowpens, near Thicketty Mountain, in 
what is now Spartanburg County, the scene of the mem- 
orable bivouac of the gathered clans on the evening of the 
6th of October, 1780, and from which they marched to the 
victory of King's Mountain.^ Here Morgan was forced to 
deliver battle. His choice of ground has been severely 
censured. The ground about the Cowpens was an open 
wood, admitting the operations of cavalry with facility, 
in which arm of the service the enemy trebled his own. 
His flanks had no resting-places, but were exposed to be 
readily turned, and Broad River ran parallel to his rear, 
forbidding the hope of a safe retreat in the event of dis- 
aster. " Had INIorgan crossed the river," says Lee in his 
Memoirs, "and approached the mountain (i. e., King's 
Mountain), he would have gained a position disadvanta- 
geous to cavalry but convenient for riflemen, and would 
have secured a less dangerous retreat. But these cogent rea- 
sons, rendered more favorable by his inferiorit}'- in numbers, 
could not prevail. Confiding in his long-tried fortune, 
conscious of his personal superiority in soldiership, and 
relying on the skill and courage of his troops, he adhered 
to his resolution. Erroneous as was the decision to 
fight in this position," says the author, " the disposition for 
battle was masterly." ^ To this criticism Morgan himself 
has replied, as follows : — ^-^^ 

" I would not have had a swamp in the view of my militia on any \ 
consideration'; they would have made for it and nothing could have 
detained them from it. And as to covering my wings, I knew my 
adversary, and was perfectly sure I should have nothing but down- 
right fighting. As to retreat, it was the very thing I wished to cut 
off all hope of. I would have thanked Tarleton had he surrounded 
me with his cavalry. It would have been better than placing my 
own men in the rear to shoot down those who broke from the ranks. 

1 Hist, of So. Ca. in the Revolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 774, 775. 
^ Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 226. 



36 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Wlien men are forced to fight they will sell themselves dearly ; and I 
knew that the dread of Tarleton's cavalry would give due weight to 
the protection of my bayonets, and keep my troops from l>reaking as 
Buford's Regiment did. Had I crossed the river, one-halt' of the mili- 
tia would immediately have abandoned me."^ 

The victory of Saratoga must surely have turned the 
heads of those who achieved it. This attempted justifica- 
tion by Morgan — one of its heroes — for the violation of 
every military rule, if indeed he voluntarily chose the 
ground, is as rash and silly as it is bombastic, and is much 
in the style of his commander Gates when in the height of 
his folly upon the surrender of Burgoyne. He would not, 
he declared, have had a swamp in the view of his militia 
on any consideration, because they would have made for 
it, and nothing could have detained them from it! And 
yet it was from the swamps of the Wateree that Sumter 
had fallen upon Carey's Fort at Camden Ferry, and carried 
off as prisoners the whole garrison and convoy of the pro- 
vision train. It was in the swamps of the Santee that 
Marion's men had rescued the Continental prisoners lost at 
Camden by Gates. It was through the swamps of Thick- 
etty Creek itself that Campbell's Virginia militia had 
marched to victory at King's Mountain. And it was in 
the swamps of the Pee Dee that Marion was even then 
keeping alive the spirit of resistance in the Low-Country 
— swamps which Marion was to render famous in history 
by the deeds of volunteer militia. He would not cover his 
Avings because he knew his adversary and was sure he 
would have nothincr but downright fig'htino^ ! Did ever a 
military leader announce a more foolish proposition ? He 
had no confidence in his militia, which constituted nearly 
two-thirds of his whole command, and would have thanked 
Tarleton for surrounding them and saving him from the 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 375, 376. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 37 

necessity of placing men in his rear to shoot down those 
who broke from their lines. And yet, situated as he was, 
with the best troops in the British service in his front, 
especially strong in cavalry, led by a desperate fighter, 
Morgan would have us believe that he deliberately selected 
as his battle-ground an open field, and of purpose formed 
his line of battle with his " wings in the air " ! This he 
did, he asserts, because he knew that the dread of Tarle- 
ton's cavalry would give due weight to the protection of 
his bayonets, and keep his troops from breaking as Buford's 
regiment had done. Mark ! As Buford's regiment had 
done ! He seems ignorant of the fact that Buford's regiment 
were Continental regulars and not militia, and entirely ob- 
livious of the glorious deeds which had been accomplished 
by the partisan bands in South Carolina since that event. 
His bayonets could not have exceeded 300. The Maryland 
line, the only regular infantry he had, amounted to but 290, 
and the militia were armed only with rifles and shotguns. 
Tarleton's cavalry alone numbered 350, and to oppose the 
Maryland line was the famous Seventy-first Regiment, 
to say nothing of the Seventh, which it is supposed was 
somewhat inferior because of its newly recruited ranks. 
What bayonets had he, then, with which to protect his 
militia? Forsooth, his bayonets had all they could do that 
day to protect themselves. Through the whole of this, his 
justification, runs the vein of criticism and distrust of the 
volunteer soldiery so common to the writings of all the Con- 
tinental officers of the time. Men who had voluntarily aban- 
doned their families and homes to enter the struggle for 
liberty without pay, a service in which, to many of them, 
there was no quarter to be expected, most of whom had had 
also as much, and in some instances, even more experience in 
actual warfare than those who so derided them, were con- 
temptuously termed " militia," and their conduct esteemed 



38 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

less trustworthy than that of enlisted men who were 
fighting only for pay. Clarke's and McCall's volunteers, 
who had been victors at Musgrove's Mills and had fought 
so desperately at Augusta and Long Cane, and McDow- 
ell's riflemen, who had borne their part at King's Moun- 
tain and in many other fields, were not considered worthy 
to be associated with the Continentals who had been de- 
feated at Camden, and had since lain idly by while the 
partisan bands of North and South Carolina and Georgia 
had victoriously fought twenty-six battles and put hors de 
combat of the enemy more than three times their own loss. 

If Morgan, for the reasons assigned by him in this letter, 
deliberately chose the field of the Cowpens as his battle- 
ground, he was unfit for the command with which he was 
intrusted, notwithstanding all his previous services ; nor 
could the brilliant victory achieved by his troops on the 
ill-chosen field relieve his memory, in this instance, of the 
most wanton and reckless conduct. This justification in 
the choice of his position was, however, an afterthought. 
The history of the battle does not comport with its theory 
— a theory worked out to meet adverse criticism long after 
the battle had taken place. 

That no such idea was entertained by Morgan at the 
time is clear from his communications both before and 
after the battle. Writing to General Greene on the 15th of 
January, two days before the battle, — the day before Tarle- 
ton manoeuvred him out of his position on the Pacolet, — 
requesting that he should be recalled with his detachment, 
he proposed that General Davidson and Colonel Pickens 
might be left with the militia, as they would not be so 
much the object of the enemy's attention, but would be 
capable of being a check on the disaffected, which is all he 
liiniself could effect. He adds, Colonel Pickens is a valu- 
able, discreet, and attentive officer, and has the confidence 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 39 

of the militia. Objecting to Greene's proposal of attack 
upon Cornwallis in his camp, he says he has only 200 
South Carolina and Georgia and 140 North Carolina volun- 
teers. " Nor do I expect to have," he adds, " more than 
two-thirds of these should I be attacked, for it is impossible 
to keep them collected." ^ He objected to the straggling 
of the militia or volunteers, but so far from doubting their 
courage and conduct, he proposes to leave them to over- 
come the disaffected, while he joins Greene with his Con- 
tinentals. In his report of the battle, written on the 19th, 
two days after its occurrence, there is no suggestion of 
such an idea. The report is disingenuous, for it makes no 
allusion to the fact that he was forced to abandon the line 
of the Pacolet by Tarleton's stratagem, but accounts for 
his movements giving " the appearance of a retreat," as of 
his own choice, seeking a more advantageous position ; 
but so far from implying any doubt of the efficiency of the 
volunteers, as he calls them, he details how he placed them, 
under Colonel Pickens, to guard his flanks. He reports, 
" The volunteers from North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
Georgia, under the command of Colonel Pickens, were 
posted to guard the flanks." ^ And yet, in his old age, he 
would persuade us that he had to place "his own men in 
the rear to shoot down those (whom he had thus posted to 
guard his flanks) if they broke." Was ever anything more 
preposterous ! 

The truth is that Morgan had no business on the west 
side of Broad River for any other purpose than for one of 
those raids by which the partisan bands in this section had 
broken up the British outposts during the last six months, 

1 Johnson's Life of Gfreene, vol. I, 371. 

2 Original report of General Morgan. Collection of Mr. T. Bailey 
Myers of New York, published in News and Courier, Charleston, South 
Carolina, May 10, 1881, 



40 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

in the absence of any regular array in the field. He had 
been sent by Greene to threaten Ninety Six, and to coun- 
tenance and aid the uprising of the people there. He had 
accomplished the dispersion of Cuningham's party at 
Williams's plantation, and had come back reenforced by 
Pickens and McCall. But when Tarleton Avas interposed 
between himself and Ninety Six, and it was known through 
Marion that Leslie was approaching a junction with Corn- 
wallis, he should no longer have allowed two large rivers 
— the Broad and the Catawba — to remain between 
Greene's army and his detachment. Greene had written 
to him on the 9th : " It is not my wish you should come 
to action unless you have a manifest advantage and a 
moral certainty of succeeding. Put nothing to tlie 
hazard. A retreat may be disagreeable, but it is not dis- 
graceful. Regard not the opinion of the day. It is not our 
business to risk too much ; our affairs are in too critical a 
situation, and require time and nursing to give them a 
better tone." His position on the Pacolet was precarious 
in the extreme. He was practically between Tarletos 
and Cornwallis, beyond any possibility of succor froili 
Greene at Cheraw. The line of the Pacolet itself was 
a weak one. The stream was shallow and abounding 
with fords. But there he remained while Tarleton was 
strongly reenforced by Cornwallis. From this position by 
his first move his opponent outmanoeuvred him. Moving 
as if to cross above, Tarleton induced him to uncover a 
better crossing below, and then by a sudden and concealed 
countermarch in the night threw his force across the Pa- 
colet so promptly and quietly as to compel Morgan, pre- 
cipitately, to abandon his camp, leaving his half-cooked 
rations on the ground. Morgan had now no alternative 
but to fight or fly to the mountains. Lee supposes that 
Morgan's decision to fight where he did grew out of irrita- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 41 

tion of temper, which overruled the suggestions of his 
better judgment ; ^ but it rather appears that Tarleton had 
deprived him of any other alternative. Early in the night 
of the 16th Tarle ton's scouts reported that Morgan had 
struck into byways tending towards Thicketty Creek, 
whereupon Tarleton immediately prepared for pursuit, and 
began his march at three o'clock in the morning of the 
17th. Before dawn he had overtaken Morgan, who had 
now either to iight or to retreat with the enemy hanging 
upon his rear — a retreat which would probably have ended 
in rout. But even could he have reached the Broad, his 
troops, fatigued and dispirited, could scarcely have crossed 
in the face of Tarleton's powerful cavalry. Well did Corn- 
wallis write to Tarleton after the battle, " The means you 
used to bring the enemy to action were able and masterly, 
and must ever do you honor." ^ Accustomed to fight and 
to conquer, as he had been, Morgan did not hesitate to 
accept the issue of battle thus forced upon him ; and how- 
ever ill suited the ground, masterly was the disposition of 
his forces to meet it, but not such as he afterwards so 
foolishly stated them to have been. Tarleton had pro- 
ceeded but a little way before his advance guards reported 
that the American troops had halted and were forming. 

Morgan, thus forced to action, took ground on an emi- 
nence gently ascending for about 350 yards and covered 
with an open wood. On the crown of this eminence were 
posted what, as he considered, his best troops, composed of 
the 290 Maryland regulars, and in line on their right the 
two companies of Virginia militia veterans, under Triplett 
and Taite, and a company of Georgians, under Captain 
Beale, about 140 in the whole, making his second line to 
consist of 430 men. This was commanded by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Howard. One hundred and fifty yards in advance 
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 226. 2 Tarleton's Campaigns, 252. 



42 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of this line the main body of the militia, about 270 in number, 
were posted in open order. These, all volunteers and 
practised marksmen, most of them burning under a sense 
of personal injury, were commanded by Colonel Pickens. 
In advance of this line, about 150 yards, were posted 150 
picked men, deployed along the whole front, on the right 
commanded by Major Cunningham of Georgia, and on the 
left by Major McDowell of North Carolina. The descent 
in the ground behind the second line was sufficiently deep 
to cover a man on horseback. Behind this the Ameri- 
can reserve was posted, consisting of Washington's and 
McCalFs cavalry, the former 80, and the latter 45 in 
number. The skirmish line of militia, under Cunningham 
and McDowell, were permitted to consult their security as 
far as circumstances would permit by covering their bodies 
with trees and firing from rest. Their orders were to 
reserve their fire until the enemy were within 50 yards. 
Then, having delivered it, to retire, covering themselves 
with trees as occasion offered, until they reached and re- 
sumed their places in the first line. The orders to the first 
line were to deliver two deliberate discharges at the distance 
of 50 yards, and tlien to retire and take their posts on 
the left of the regulars ; if charged by cavalry, every third 
man to fire, and two to remain in reserve lest the cavalry 
should continue to advance after the first fire. The second 
line were cautioned not to be alarmed at the retreat of the 
militia in their front. The orders given to the militia 
were detailed to the regulars. They were directed also to 
fire low and deliberately ; not to break on any account, and 
if forced to retire, to rally on the eminence in their rear, 
where they were assured that the enemy could not injure 
them. The baggage of the American army had been sent 
off early in the morning under a suitable escort, with orders 
to halt a few miles in the rear, and the militia horses — for 



IN THE REVOLUTION 43 

the volunteers were all mounted — were secured to the 
boughs of trees a convenient distance in the rear of the 
reserve. Every arrangement having been thus completed, 
the men were ordered to rest in their places.^ All were in 
high spirits and ready for the action, for, however Morgan 
disparaged the militia in his correspondence, he had fol- 
lowed the custom of the warfare in this region and had 
submitted to them, with the other troops, the question 
whether they should fight. They had replied with a uni- 
versal cry to be led to battle. ^ 

It was about eight o'clock in the morning that the British 
army arrived in view of the Americans, and, instead of 
overtaking his adversary in the hurry, confusion, and 
fatigue of a flight, Tarleton found him rested, breakfasted, 
and deliberately drawn up, every man at his post, and 
their commander, in a forcible style of elocution, addressing 
them. On the other hand, the British troops had been five 
hours that morning on the march; but Tarleton judged the 
excitement of the moment of greater consequence than rest 
or refreshment, and prepared immediately for action. The 
American army calmly looked on while the enemy formed 
his order of battle at the distance of four hundred yards 
from the first line.^ 

Tarleton had approached with his army in the following 
order : the Light Infantry and Legion Infantry and the 
Seventh Regiment, with the artillery in the centre, and a 
captain and 50 dragoons on each flank composed his 
advance. The battalion of the Seventy-first Regi- 
ment and 150 dragoons composed his reserve. As they 
arrived upon the ground, the infantry were required to dis- 
encumber themselves of everything except their arms and 

^ In this account of Morgan's disposition for the battle Johnson has 
been followed, Life of Greene, vol, I, 377-379. 

a Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 372. » Ibid., 372, 379. 



44 UlSrOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ammunition. The Legion Dragoons were ordered to drive 
in the skirmish line which covered Morgan's front, that it 
might be more conveniently and distinctly inspected. On 
the advance of the cavalry the American parties retreated 
and fell back into the first line. This retreat upon their 
part, it is said, was made earlier in the action than Morgan 
had intended, but not before they had inflicted a blow upon 
the enemy from which they did not recover and which 
proved ultimately fatal to their fortunes^ — Cunningham's 
and McDowell's marksmen had, before falling back, given the 
British cavalry a few discharges wliich made them tremble, 
for at least that day, at the deadly aim of the American 
riflemen. 

The American skirmishers having fallen back, the British 
Light Infantry were filed to the right till they covered the 
flank of the American front line ; and the Legion Infantry 
formed upon their left. Before the other troops had been 
placed in position Tarleton ordered an advance of the partly 
formed line under fire of a three-pounder to within 300 
yards of the American line. Here the Seventh Regiment 
was formed upon the left of the Legion Infantry, and the 
other three-pounder was given to the right division of the 
Seventh. Tlie two field-pieces were placed equidistant from 
each other and from the extremity of each wing, thus divid- 
ing the line into thirds. A party of dragoons of 50 under 
a captain was placed on each flank of the corps which formed 
the British front line, to protect their own and threaten the 
flanks of their adversaries. The reserve, composed of the 
Seventy-first Regiment and 200 cavalry, was posted 150 
yards in the rear and to the left of the line of battle. 

These dispositions having been made, the British advanced 
under the fire of the artillery and also with some firing of 

1 Memoirs of the War of 17 7 G (Lee), 228 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, 
vol. I, 379. 



IN THE REVOLUTION ' 45 

the line and with loud shouts for approaching victory. The 
infantry fire Tarleton declares to have been only from some 
of the recruits of the Seventh Regiment, which he suppressed. 
The militia under Pickens maintained their line with perfect 
coolness. They received the enemy's fire with a firmness 
which astonished the British, unaccustomed to such resist- 
ance from the description of the troops they supposed they 
had in front of them.^ At the distance ordered they delivered 
their fire with unerring aim, and it was, says Johnson, the 
magnanimous confession of a gallant officer of the Maryland 
line who fought on this day " that here the battle was 
gained." The killed and wounded of the British commis- 
sioned and non-commissioned officers who lay on the field 
of battle where the fire of the riflemen was delivered, and the 
great proportion which the killed and wounded of this 
description bore to the whole number sufficiently justified 
the assertion.''^ The riflemen had carried out the determina- 
tion which they had formed before the action to " mark the 
epaulette men." ^ The British line now charged with their 
bayonets, upon which Pickens ordered a retreat to the post 
assigned them before the action began, on the left of the 
Continental troops.* As the volunteers fell back the enemy 
rent the air with their shouts, and quickened their advance ; 
but from that moment the work of Pickens's marksmen be- 
gan to shov/ its effects ; the loss of officers was soon manifest 
by the confusion which ensued in the ranks. 

As soon as the second line was cleared the latter com- 
menced their fire, and for near thirty minutes it was kept 
up with coolness and constancy. The fire on both sides 

1 McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 357. 

- Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 380. " Ibid., 378. 

* General Morgan reports, "Majors McDowell and Cunningham gave 
them a heavy and galling fire, and retreated to the regiments intended for 
their support ; the whole of Colonel Pickens's command then kept up a fire 
by regiments, retreating agreeable to orders." 



46 • HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

was well supported and occasioned much slaughter. The 
British, though frequently halted for the restoration of or- 
der, continued to advance, but with such hesitation that 
Tarleton ordered up the Seventy-first into line on his left, 
while his cavalry made a sweep upon the American right. 

The cavalry of Tarleton's left wing had fallen upon the 
rear of the retreating militia, who, having to traverse the 
whole front of the second line to reach the ground on which 
they were ordered to rally, were much exposed in doing so. 
Washington, seeing this, dashed to their assistance, and, 
repulsing the enemy, enabled the militia to recover their 
composure and steadiness. The eminence which covered 
this reserve was exceedingly favorable to their purpose, and 
Pickens ably availed himself of it. Here most of them 
gathered around him, and were soon reduced to order. 

Apprehensive that the reserve could not be brought up 
in time to defend this exposed flank, or if it were that it 
would leave his other flank too much exposed, Morgan sent 
an order to the Virginia and Georgia militia on his right, 
to fall back so as to form a new line at right angles with 
that of the Continentals, and repel the enemy's advance 
upon his right flank. To effect this movement with preci- 
sion and despatch, the commanding officer ordered his men 
to face to the right-about and wheel on their left. The 
first part of the order was executed with coolness. And 
now came the crisis of the battle. An accident, under a 
misapprehension of orders, which for a while threatened 
the destruction of the American army, was averted, strange 
to say, by a misapprehension of the commander-in-chief of 
what had actually taken place. The Continentals, seeing 
the movement of the militia on their right, and supposing 
that this was the state of things which required a retreat to 
the eminence in their rear, faced about also and began to 
move rather in an accelerating step, but still in perfect 



IN THE REVOLUTION 47 

Older, towards the intended second position. Howard, pre- 
suming that the order must have emanated from the com- 
mander, made no opposition, but bent his whole attention 
to the preservation of order and encouragement of his men. 
Morgan, also, under the impression that the movement was 
made under the order of Howard, and thinking favorably 
of it under existing circumstances, rode along the rear of 
the line, reminding the officers to halt and face as soon 
as they reached their ground. But just at this crisis, says 
Johnson, whose account is here followed, they were accosted 
by another officer, and their attention drawn to some facts 
which produced an immediate change of measures. This 
officer was a messenger from Colonel Washington, who, 
having been carried, in pursuing the enemy's cavalry, some 
distance in the advance of the American line, found the 
right flank of the enemy wholly exposed to him, disclos- 
ing the confusion existing in their ranks, from the want of 
the officers who had fallen under Pickens's fire. " They 
are coming like a mob — give them a fire and I will charge 
them," was the message delivered, and the messenger gal- 
loped back to join his command. At that instant Pickens 
showed himself above the second hill, advancing to support 
the right, and in twenty minutes more the whole British 
army were prisoners of the Americans. 

The British, seeing the second line retreating, as they 
supposed, advanced rapidly with shouts of victory, but in 
the disorder which Washington had described. They had 
reached within thirty yards of Howard's rear when, at Wash- 
ington's suggestion, that officer halted his troops. " Face 
about and give them one fire, and the victory is ours," was 
reiterated by Morgan as he passed along the line. It was 
promptly obeyed. The enemy were within a few yards 
tumultuously shouting and rapidly advancing ; scarcely a 
man of the Americans, it is said, raised his gun to his 



48 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

shoulder; when their fire was delivered they were in the 
attitude of using their bayonets. The bayonets of the two 
armies were interlocked. The enemy threw down their 
arms and fell upon their faces. The cry of " Tarleton's 
quarters " rang from right to left, but Howard controlled 
his men, and his order to " give them quarter " was 
obeyed. Tarleton as a last effort sent orders to his 
dragoons to charge the right of the Americans while he 
attempted to rally the infantry to protect the guns ; but 
the deadly aim of Pickens's riflemen in the commencement 
of the action had so completely demoralized men who had 
been accustomed only to sabring defeated troops and plun- 
dering the unprotected, that he could get no response to his 
order. His efforts to collect his infantry were alike in- 
effectual. Neither promises nor threats, he declared, could 
gain their attention. Tliey surrendered or dispersed, and 
abandoned the guns to the artillerymen who defended 
them for some time with exemplary resolution. In this last 
stage of defeat Tarleton made another struggle to bring 
his cavalry to the charge, hoping that such an attack might 
retrieve the day, but all attempts to restore order or reani- 
mate their courage proved fruitless. Tarleton admits that 
above two hundred dragoons forsook their leader and left 
the field of battle. They had been accustomed to slaughter 
fugitives, not to take part while the battle waged. They 
had massacred Buford's regiment at the Waxhaws, had 
sabred the fugitives from Camden, had surprised and cut to 
pieces Sumter's unarmed men at Fishing Creek ; but they 
failed to dislodge this same leader's recruited ranks when 
they had arms in their hands at Blackstock, and when 
brought face to face witli the foe at Cowpens they ignomini- 
ously fled. But very unlike the conduct of the cavalry was 
that of the Royal Artillerymen ; abandoned by tlie cavalry 
and supported only by a few of the infantry who rallied 



IN THE REVOLUTION 49 

around them, these devoted men stood to their guns, 
though Washington's cavalry was amongst them. Most 
were killed or wounded by the time that Tarleton, with a 
number of mounted officers and all that remained to him 
of his cavalry, about fifty in number, returned to support 
them. Here it was that occurred that memorable contest 
between Tarleton and Washington from which Wash- 
ington so narrowly escaped. Seeing Tarleton approach, 
Washington ordered his men to charge and dashed forward 
himself. Tarleton ordered a retreat. Being in the rear of 
his retreating men and looking behind him, Tarleton per- 
ceived that Washington was very near him and fully thirty 
yards ahead of his troops. Observing this, with three offi- 
cers he wheeled about and advanced to meet his pursuer. 
One of his officers, the one on the right, led, and parrying 
a blow aimed at him by Washington, the sword of tlie 
latter proved of inferior temper and broke in half. Wash- 
ington, now at his mercy, was about to fall under the sword 
of this British officer, when the latter Avas disabled by an 
American sergeant v/ho had come to the assistance of his 
leader. At the same instant a serving-man, too small to 
wield a sword, but who had joined the affray, by a pistol 
shot saved Washington from the sabre of the British officer 
who had come up on the left. Then Tarleton himself, in 
the centre, made a thrust at Washington, which was 
parried ; when, retreating a few paces, he used his pistol, 
with which he wounded Washington's horse.^ In the mean- 
while all was over with the British army on the extreme 
right of the Americans. The Seventy-first behaved, as 
usual, with courage, and maintained their order to the last. 
But when the cavalry fled and the whole weight of the 
American army pressed on them, resistance was vain. 

1 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 347 ; Johnson's Life of 
Gree7ie, vol. I, 383. 

VOL. IV. E 



50 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

They laid down their arms, and Colonel Pickens in person 
received the sword of their commander, Major McArthur. 

Never was victory more complete. Not a British corps 
retired from the field under command except the few cavalry 
who accompanied Tarleton. Washington pursued the fly- 
ing enemy until evening, and on his return drove before 
him near 100 straggling prisoners collected on his route. 
Two field-pieces, four-pounders, 800 muskets, two stands 
of colors, 35 baggage wagons, and 100 dragoon horses 
fell into the hands of the victors. Johnson, upon a 
review of the authorities and from original matter, 
concludes that the British loss was 600 prisoners and 
184 killed and wounded, of whom he estimates the 
slain at 60. The loss in officers was particularly great. 
At least one-tenth of the killed and wounded were 
commissioned officers. Ten were found on the field of 
battle, almost all of whom had evidently fallen under 
the fire of the militia. Hence the irretrievable confusion 
which the writers on both sides admit to have ensued in the 
British line.^ A part of Tarleton's cavalry fled to Hamil- 
ton's Ford on Broad River, and reached Cornwallis's camp 
at Fisher's Creek, about twenty-five miles from Cowpens, in 
the evening. The remainder arrived with Tarleton the 
following morning.^ The whole American loss was but 
11 killed and 61 wounded. No officer of rank was among 
the killed or wounded.^ 

The distinguishing feature of the battle of Cowpens upon 
the American side was undoubtedly the effective work of 
Pickens's marksmen. It was this which in the very com- 
mencement of the action had carried terror into the hearts 
of Tarleton's dragoons, and it was this which disorganized 

1 Johnson's Life of Orrenr, vol. I, 384. 

2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 227. 
' Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 383. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 51 

the British line to such an extent as to render it only a 
mob when the critical moment of the onslaught had arrived. 
So far from deserving the subsequent preposterous, though 
cruel, censure of the leader they served so well that day, it 
was Pickens himself who received the sword of the gallant 
commander of the Seventy-first Regiment.^ And yet it was 
of these men that Morgan wrote years after that he would 
have thanked Tarleton to have kept them in their ranks. 
Whatever confusion occurred among them this day was the 
result of Morgan's own orders.^ 

Thus ended the brilliant but cruel career of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Tarleton in South Carolina. Lord Cornwallis, his 
commander, loyally stood by the young officer to whom he 
had intrusted this important movement, and so many of 
his best troops. " You have forfeited no part of my esteem 
as an officer by the unfortunate event of the action of the 
17th," wrote his lordship on the 30th of January. "The 
means you used to bring the enemy to action were able and 
masterly and must ever do you honor. Your disposition 
was unexceptionable ; the total misbehavior of the troops 
could alone have deprived you of the glory which was so 
justly your due." ^ But not so considerately was Tarleton's 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 383. 

2 In his official report Morgan writes: "Such was the inferiority of 
our numbers that our success must be attributed under God to the justice 
of our cause and the bravery of our troops. My wishes would induce me 
to mention the name of every private centinel in the corps.'''' In an order 
mentioning the names of the commissioned officers in the action the general 
announces, " Colonel Pickens and all the officers in his corps behaved 
well; but from their having so lately joined the detachment it has been 
impossible to collect all their names and rank so the general does not 
particularize any lest it should be doing injustice to others^ And yet it is 
these men that in after life he said he had to keep in their places by 
posting men to shoot them down if they broke 1 

' Tarleton's Campaigns, 252. Tarleton did not reciprocate his lord- 
ship's generosity ; in his work he by no means stands by his chief, who so 



52 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

conduct generally regarded in the British array. There was 
much jealousy of Tarleton among the officers of the British 
line, whose rank as commandant of the Legion, a provincial 
organization, superseded officers who had been long in the 
service. Especially was this the case in regard to Major 
McArthur of the Seventy-first and Major Newmarsh of the 
Seventh or Fusileers, officers who had held commissions long- 
before Tarleton was born.^ The partiality which the Com- 
mander-in-chief constantly displayed in Tarleton's favor was 
not calculated to abate this jealousy or to assure him the 
cordial support of those over whom he was thus placed. Had 
the misfortune of the battle involved only the Legion, it is 
not probable that it would have excited so much criticism. 
But it was observed with bitterness, that, while after the 
battle few of the Legion cavalry were even missing, the only 
body of his infantry which escaped was the guard left with 
the baggage, which had not reached Cowpens at the time 
of the action. The Seventh, the Seventy-first, and artillery, 
commanded by veteran officers who had not been in any way 
consulted as to the action, had been sacrificed to the impet- 
uosity of this officer, without experience in anything but 
partisan warfare. It was impossible, it was said, to form 
any other conclusion than that there was a radical defect 
and a want of military knowledge on the part of Colonel 
Tarleton. It was admitted that he possessed bravery in- 
ferior to no man, but his talents never exceeded that of a 
partisan captain of light dragoons, daring in skirmishes.^ 
Moultrie relates that he happened to be in Charlestown at 
the time when the news of the battle was received, the 

magnanimously supported him in his defeat. In his Campaigns he lays 
blame on Cornwallis for many things which at the time he himself 
approved. Clinton- Cornwallis Controversy, vol. I, Introduction, 17. 

^ Strictures on Tarleton^s Campaigns, 108. 

2 Hist. Am. War (Stedman), vol. II, 323, 324. 



IN THE llEVOLUTION 53 

particulars of which he knew as soon as the British there, 
Governor Rutledge having sent in a person on some pre- 
tence with a liag, butin fact to inform the American prison- 
ers of the success, news which he at once communieated 
to the officers at HaddrelFs Point. The defeat of Tarleton, 
he says, chagrined and disappointed the British officers 
and Tories in Charlestown exceedingly. He saw them 
standing in the streets, talking over the affair with very 
grave faces. Some of the old British officers who were made 
prisoners and paroled to Charlestown, when they came 
down, were exceedingly angry at their defeat and were 
heard to say, " That was the consequence of trusting such a 
command to a boy like Tarleton." ^ 

Ramsay, the historian, glorying in this American victory, 
asserts that Tarleton's defeat was the first link in a grand 
chain of causes which finally drew down ruin both in North 
and South Carolina on the Royal interests. ^ It is scarcely 
to be wondered at that an author who had collected so 
little information in regard to the operations of the partisan 
bands in South Carolina and the results thereby obtained 
as to hold that but little impression had been made by them 
on the British army in the State, that Huck's defeat at 
Williamson's (improperly spoken of by him as Williams's) 
plantation, and Hanging Rock were the only checks, and 
these nothing more than checks, which the British arras 
had received before the battle of King's Mountain,^ which 
battle in itself was nothing more, according to liim, than 
an " unexpected advantage," which gave new spirits to the 
desponding Americans, who did not even know of the 
battle of Musgrove's Mills — it is scarcely to be wondered 
that such a one should regard the victory at Cowpens as 
the day-dawn of success upon the cause of liberty in tliese 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 250, 257. 
2 Ramsay's liev. of So. C'a., vol. II, 200. 3 /^jv?., 174. 



54 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

States. It is surprising, however, that one so much better 
informed as the author of the life of Greene should have 
fallen into the same mistake, asserting it in almost the 
same words. ^ 

The battle of Cowpens was much nearer the end of the 
chain of causes which led to the redemption of these States 
than to its beginning. The material results of the victory 
at Cowpens bear no comparison to those obtained by the 
series of partisan actions which culminated at King's 
Mountain, and which were enlarged and emphasized at 
Fishdam, Blackstock, and Hammond's Store. As has 
been shown in the preceding volume, the net results of 
these engagements had been three to one in favor of the 
Americans in killed, wounded, and prisoners, and had 
resulted in disconcerting a campaign in which the whole 
American cause was involved. The victory at King's 
Mountain had caused the abandonment of the invasion of 
North Carolina and Virginia at a time most favorable to 
the Royal cause. It had recalled Cornwallis to South 
Carolina just as he was about to commence a march which 
but for this cause might have ended in a junction between 
Leslie and himself in Virginia and their united advance 
upon Washington in the Jerseys, and this at a time 
while the British fleet had command of the American 
waters, blockading the French at Newport. It had delayed 
this grand movement for 1780. De Grasse had arrived in 
1781, raised the blockade of Newport, released the French 
army, and Cornwallis's renewed invasion ended in surren- 
der. If a chain is to be drawn from the fall of Charles- 
town to the glorious end of the war, its first link will be 
found at Williamson's plantation, when Bratton and Lacey 
rose upon Huck, and its last at the capitulation at York- 
town. 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 377. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 65 

The material results of the battle of Cowpens were the 
destruction of the best regiment in the British service, the 
loss to it of some others of their best troops, and the end 
put to the terror of Tarleton. Had the Seventy-first Regi- 
ment been present at Guilford Court-house it would most 
assuredly have rendered efficient service. But Tarleton's 
discredit was by no means so serious an injury to his Maj- 
esty's cause as the death of Ferguson, who was an abler 
and a better man. Nor was it more so than the capture 
of Wemyss. It was a glorious victory — that achieved at 
Cowpens ; but it had no decisive effect upon the opening 
campaign. Cornwallis, when joined by Leslie, notwith- 
standing it, marched as he had purposed. 

Congress, says Lee, manifested their sense of this impor- 
tant victory by a resolve approving the conduct of the 
principal officers and commemorative of their distinguished 
exertions. To General Morgan they presented a gold 
medal, to Brigadier Pickens a sword, and to Lieutenant- 
Colonels Howard and Washington a silver medal each, 
and to Captain Triplett a sword. ^ 

And well did these distinguished officers deserve these 
remembrances of their services. But Campbell for King's 
Mountain, and Sumter for Hanging Rock, Fishdam, and 
Blackstock, were let go with thanks. Neither Davie, nor 
Shelby, nor Sevier, nor Clarke, nor Lacey received even that 
compliment ; nor was any notice taken of McCall, under 
whose influence it was that Pickens was again in the field 
to win and merit so distinguished a mark of his country- 
men's approbation. 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 230. 



CHAPTER III 

1781 

General Sumter has been much censured by the bi- 
ographers of General Greene for a want of cordiality in 
the support of that commander during his campaign in 
South Carolina.^ How far this censure was deserved, the 
reader will be able to judge as the story proceeds. It is 
manifest, however, that General Greene, while in the out- 
set warm in his encomiums upon Sumter's character and 
influence, upon assuming command had not appreciated 
what had been accomplished by Sumter, Marion, and the 
other partisan leaders during the montlis in which the State 
had been jpractically abandoned by Congress; and that he 

1 Great Commanders Series, Oeneral Greene (Francis Vinton Greene), 
238, 248, 255, 265, 260; Joliuson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 210, 216. 
The Hon. William Johnson, the biographer of Greene, was the son 
of William Johnson who took so active a part in the early movements of 
the Revolution. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives of 
South Carolina at the early age of twenty-six, a judge of the State at 
twenty-eight, and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States at thirty-two. The author of this work, his grand nephew, regrets 
to find himself unable to concur generally with the views and judgments 
of his distinguished relative in regard to the great leaders, Greene and 
Sumter. Possibly had the judge the advantage which the author has 
enjoyed of having before him the Sumter manuscripts, the full corre- 
spondence between the two, and much that has come to light since he 
wrote, he might have modified some of his strictures upon Sumter and 
have been persuaded that his hero. General Greene, was not always in 
the right, nor Sumter so much in the wrong. Judge Johnson's work, 
notwithstanding his partiality for General Greene and hostility to Sumter, 
is, nevertheless, the fullest and best history of the War of the Revo- 
lution in South Carolina. 

56 



IN THE REVOLUTION 67 

did not believe in the system of warfare which they had so 
successfully waged. It has been seen, too, with what dis- 
paragement and affected contempt Morgan was accustomed 
to speak of those who had alone achieved so much. An 
officer could not have held the views, concerning a part of 
his command, expressed by Morgan in his correspondence 
with Greene, and indeed maintained during the rest of his 
life, as shown in his attempted vindication of the choice of 
his battle-ground at Cowpens, without imparting that opin- 
ion to those whom it affected. Unfortunately, too, a clash 
of authority occurred between Morgan and Sumter in the 
very commencement of Greene's command, about which, 
though the latter wrote most kindly to Sumter in explana- 
tion, he failed to remove his just cause of complaint, or 
even to attempt to do so. Verj^ probably there was a jeal- 
ousy on the part of the heroes of Hanging Rock, Mnsgrove's 
Mills, King's Mountain, and Blackstock of the command 
of Continental officers, who had brought with them neither 
men, arms, nor clothing, and who constituted themselves 
nearly all the reenforcements Congress had sent. Very 
probably these leaders conceived that, if the struggle was 
still to be carried on by their men, they knew best how to 
conduct the warfare. In all this they may have been mis- 
taken. Greene and Morgan may have been abler generals 
and more competent to direct their movements and carry 
on the war ; but, if so, it all the more behooved these lead- 
ers to be careful not to offend the sensibilities of those who, 
having so long and so well fought without the aid of Con- 
gress, were now called upon in its name to yield obedience 
to those whom they did not know. Morgan came with 
great reputation. He had been at the siege of Boston, 
had served with Arnold upon his expedition to Quebec, 
and had been distinguished under Gates at Saratoga ; but, 
like Greene, he had never had an independent command. 



58 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLmA 

Greene had been sent by Washington at the solicitation of 
the delegates of the Southern States in Congress, but his 
reputation rested solely upon his being the choice of his 
Commander-in-chief. He had never, as we have before ob- 
served, commanded an army or served in the field anywhere 
but under the command of another. He had participated 
in no victory except the surprise of the Hessians at Tren- 
ton, in which he accompanied Washington. 

The assumption, too, of military superiority by the Conti- 
nental officers, because of their being regulars, over the parti- 
san leaders had really but little substantial ground on which 
to rest. Few of them had any more military education than 
those upon whom they affected to look down. Like the 
partisan leaders, they had almost all been plain citizens until 
the Revolution broke out four years before ; nor had Charles 
Lee nor Gates, the professional soldiers, demonstrated their 
greater ability in the field. It might have been a different 
matter had these Continental officers brought with them 
a body of regular soldiers sufficient to cope openly in the 
field with the British regiments of the line and the well- 
trained provincials — American Tories — from the North 
which constituted Cornwallis's command. But this they 
had not done. They had come only themselves, without a 
following, to command those who had already achieved no 
mean successes without their leadership. It was not un- 
natural therefore that Sumter, who had begun his military 
career in the French War, had served under Braddock in 
1755, while Greene was but a boy, and under Richardson 
in 1775, in the " Snow Campaign," who had himself been 
a Continental officer, and who had already seen so much 
service in this war, should be somewhat restive under the 
control and criticism of those really less experienced than 
himself. But he exhibited no such spirit to Greene upon 
his arrival ; nor do we think it can be discovered afterwards. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 59 

General Greene brought with him to his new command 
an unfortunate habit. He was a voluminous writer and a 
raoralizer. His pen was as busy as his sword. His literary 
style was certainly not based upon Caesar's Commentaries, 
which we are told he had studied to prepare himself for 
the war. He wrote, not military reports, — clear and succinct 
accounts of the battles which he fought, and of the situa- 
tion and condition of his army, — but long personal letters, 
going into personal details, and criticism and discussions, 
usually of complaint. Such were his letters to Washington, 
to Lafayette, and to Governor Reed of Pennsylvania, to 
each of whom he poured out his troubles, explaining after 
each battle how through the fault of others it had not 
resulted in a brilliant victory. Such also was the character 
of his communications to his subordinates ; and indeed to 
these latter there was withal an assumption and tone of supe- 
riority and patronage which must have been galling to men 
who were his seniors in years and of greater military experi- 
ence. Nor did he restrict himself in this style of address to his 
subordinates ; he could not divest himself of it even when 
addressing the General Assembly of the State. To a remon- 
strance of the legislature against the unjust imposition upon 
South Carolina of the support of the cavalry of the Conti- 
nental army, at the end of the war, he returned, says his 
biographer, " a truly parental answer" ^ — a parental answer, 
forsooth, to the Rutledges, Gadsden, and the Pinckneys. It 
is difficult, indeed, to understand how General Greene found 
the time amidst his pressing duties to conduct the immense 
correspondence he carried on during his campaigns. 

On the 3d of December, Governor Rutledge, then at Char- 
lotte, wrote, telling Sumter of the arrival of General Greene, 
and requesting him to come there as soon as his health and 
the weather would permit, for he was still suffering from 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene., vol. II, 392. 



60 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the wound received at Blackstock.^ This summons Sum- 
ter at once obeyed ; and it also appears that upon this con- 
ference he urged an immediate attack upon Cornwallis ; 
for on the 12th Greene wrote to him: "I proposed to 
Generals Smallwood and Morgan the attack upon Lord 
Cornwallis. They are both pointedly against it, as im- 
practicable. I am not altogether of their opinion, and there- 
fore wish you to keep up a communication of intelligence, 
and of any changes of their disposition that may take place." 
In this letter Greene informed Sumter of his purpose to 
change his position. ^ On the 15th Greene again wrote to 
him: "Governor Rutledgeshew[ed] me a couple of notes 
which you sent him, wherein you express a desire to have 
a detachment made from this army on the other side of the 
Catawba. The measure you wish I have been preparing 
for ever since I was with you and shall have the troops in 
readiness in a day or two at farthest." ^ But while both 
Governor Rutledge and General Greene were in constant 
correspondence with Sumter, as if he were in actual com- 
mand, as he really was, * his wound still prevented his per- 
sonally taking the field. On the 8th of January, Greene 
writes to him, from his camp on the Pee Dee whither Greene 
had moved, this remarkable letter : — 

" I am impatient to hear of your recovery, and of seeing you again 
at the head of the militia. General Morgan has gone over to the 
west side of the Catawba, agreeable to what I wrote you before I 

1 Sumter MSS., in the possession of Miss Brownfield, General Siunter's 
granddaughter, in Summerville, S. C, published in the Year Book, City of 
Charleston, 1899 (Smyth), Appendix, 71. The correspondence between 
Greene and Sumter, thus published, we regret to observe, is very inaccu- 
rately edited. 

2 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 73. 
8 Letter, Sumter MSS., ihid., 7:1 

* See letters of Governor Rutledge of date December 16 — 20, 21, 25, 
Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1889, Appendix. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 61 

left CharlotLe. But T expect he will have but few men from your 
brigade, until you are iu a condition to appear at the head of them. 
Your influence in bringing them out is not only necessary but the 
means you have of obtaining intelligence is not less important. I 
lament exceedingly your wounds confining you so much longer than 
I was flattered with, from appearance at the time I was with you, 
and 1 esteem it no less unfortunate for the i:)ublic than myself. If 
General Morgan don't meet with any misfortune until you are ready 
to join him I shall be happy as your knowledge of the country and 
the peoi:)le will afford him great security against a surprise." ^ 

Breaking the thread of this flattering communication, 
General Greene proceeds to pronounce this treatise upon 
military operations in general : — 

" When I was with you your soul was full of enterprise. The 
salvation of this country don't depend upon little strokes, nor should 
the great business of establishing a permanent army be neglected to 
perform them. Partisan strokes in war are like the garnish of a table. 
They give splendor to tlie army, and reputation to the officer, but 
they afford no substantial national secui-ity. They are . . . ^ should 
not be neglected ... 2, they should not be preserved to the prej- 
udice of more important concerns. Yoii may strike a hundred 
strokes and reap little benefit from them unless you have a good 
army to take advantage of your success. The enemy will never 
relinquish their plan nor the people be firm in our favor, until they 
behold a better barrier in this field than a volunteer militia, who are 
one day out, and the next at home.^ 

1 Sumter MSS., Tear Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 73, 75. 

2 Illegible from mutilations in the original. 

3 The British critics of the war at the time took a very different view 
of these affairs from that here expressed by Greene. " Most of these 
actions," it was said, " would iu other wars be considered but as skiruiislies 
of little account and scarcely worthy of a detailed narrative. But these 
small affairs are as capable as any of displaying military conduct. The 
operations of war being spread over that vast continent by the new plan 
that was adopted, it is by such skirmishes that the fate of America must 
necessarily be decided. They are therefore as important as battles in 
which a thousand men are drawn up on each side." — Annual Begister 
for 1781, vol. XXIV, 83. "Too mean an opinion of the American prow- 
ess seems to have prejudiced the Commander-in-chief (Sir Henry Clin- 



62 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

" There is no mortal man more fond of enterprise than myself, 
but this is not the basis on which the fate of this country depends. 
It is not a war of posts but a contest of States dependent upon 
opinion.^ If we can introduce into the field a greater army than the 
enemy, all their posts will fall of themselves, and without this they 
will reestablish them, though we should take them twenty times. 
Nevertheless, I would always hazard an attack when the misfortune 
cannot be so great to us as it may be to the enemy. Plunder and 
depredation prevails so in every quarter I am not a little apprehen- 
sive all this country will be laid waste. Most people appear to be in 
pursuit of private gain or personal glory. I persuade myself, though 
you may set a just value upon reputation, your soul is filled with a 
more noble ambition." 

There was some general truth, of course, in all this. 
But why should Greene have taken this occasion to 
remind Sumter of these elementary principles of warfare ? 
" When I was with you your soul was full of enterprise " 
is the text upon which this discouraging letter is written. 
" The salvation of this country don't depend upon little 
strokes, nor should the great business of establishing 
a permanent army be neglected to perform them." 
Why write this to Sumter, who, still suffering from his 

ton). Thus he speaks of 'a small body of ill-armed peasants full as 
spiritless as the militia of the Southern provinces.' But Lord Cornwallis, 
who knows more of the provinces, aptly replies, ' The list of British offi- 
cers and soldiers killed and wounded by them since last June proves but 
too fatally that they are not wholly contemptible.' " — Clinton-CornioaUis 
Controversy, vol. I, xii. 

1 And yet, strange to say, it was to be tlie boast of one of General 
Greene's biogi-aphers, claiming for him the results of Sumter's, Marion's, 
and Lee's achievements, accomplished with scarcely his sanction, that 
" by the unparalleled success of this loar of posts the American leader was 
doubly benefited. He weakened his adversary by the prisoners he made, 
and strengthened himself by constant accessions to his scanty stock of 
ammunition and stores. This was one mode in which he created his own 
resources, compelling the enemy to furnish him witli materials for the sub- 
sistence of his troops and their own annoyance. By no other plan could 
he possibly have maintained himself in South Carolina.'''' — Caldwell's 
Life of Greene, 258-259. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 63 

wounds, was planning such enterprises against the enemy 
as his limited means admitted? What had Sumter to 
do with the great business of establishing a permanent 
army? If Washington and Greene had found Congress 
deaf to all their arguments in favor of such an army, 
why, by repeating them to him, harass Sumter, who was 
doing all he could to supply the omission of that body ? 
Why discourage him by saying that he might strike a 
hundred strokes and reap little benefit unless he had 
a good army to take advantage of his success ? If it was 
true that the enemy would never relinquish their plan, 
nor the people be firm in favor of liberty, until they 
beheld a better barrier in the field than a volunteer 
militia, why remind Sumter of the fact, when Greene had 
himself brought no army to his assistance ? This long and 
carefully prepared and studied letter must have been 
written for a definite purpose. It must have been de- 
signed to influence Sumter's conduct in some way. Its 
purpose could not have been to have persuaded Sumter 
to raise an army; for Sumter was, at least, as powerless 
to do so as Washington himself. The only effect which 
the letter could produce was to dissuade Sumter from 
striking any more partisan blows. Again, why write all 
this to Sumter, who had urged the gathering of all 
their forces at this time and making a grand attack upon 
Cornwallis himself ? It was Smallwood and Morgan — 
Continental generals — who had opposed the scheme of 
a general battle, as the Continental officers did again, 
as we shall see, when a most favorable opportunity pre- 
sented itself for a telling blow. 

There was doubtless, we say, some abstract truth in this 
letter of General Greene ; but was it true that at present 
the war was not one of outposts ? If so, and if, as was also 
true. Congress could or would provide no grand armies to 



64 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

fight great battles, then there could be no war at all — at 
least in the Southern Department. This letter was writ- 
ten either in ignorance of what had taken place in South 
Carolina during the last six months, or in want of appre- 
ciation and disparagement of the great results which had 
been accomplished. The war of outposts had been so 
successfully waged in South Carolina, as has been shown, 
as to disconcert the grand plans of the enemy, affecting 
their movements not only in the South, but in the North as 
well. By this war of outposts the partisan leaders here 
had broken up the grand ministerial plan of the British 
campaign, had saved Virginia for the time from invasion, 
and prevented Leslie's movements in concert with Corn- 
wallis. The war of outposts had required Leslie's army 
to be diverted to supply the losses inflicted by these volun- 
teer soldiers upon the British forces. 

But it is needless further to discuss this letter of 
Greene's, which liis own course repudiated. In writing to 
Sumter that he had been preparing ever since he was with 
liim to send a force to the other side of the CataAvba, as if 
to assure Sumter that he was not acting upon his advice in 
the matter, he was careful to observe that this was a part 
of a plan he had had in contemplation ever since he had 
come to the ground. Sending Morgan to threaten Ninety 
Six, then, was not upon Sumter's suggestion, he was careful 
to assert, but upon his own. But what was the movement 
of Morgan's but a threat of an attack upon that outpost ? 
a threat emphasized at Williams's plantation where Wash- 
ington dispersed Cuningham's party. We shall next see 
Greene sending Colonel Lee with his Legion, as soon as it 
arrives, to join Marion in an attack upon Georgetown. So 
that within ten days he had two affairs of outposts fought 
under his own orders. 

The misfortune of the letter of General Greene's was 



IN THE REVOLUTION 65 

that it failed to recognize the great work which had been 
done by the volunteer bands in South Carolina, and seemed 
intended purposely to belittle its results. If Sumter was 
at all to act upon it, he must disband his parties and cease 
from any further enterprises. 

The letter concludes, however, with a passage which 
shows that Greene was not ignorant of the great difference 
between the men whom Sumter led and the ordinary 
militia. He writes : — 

" I tell you in confidence — I am in disti-es3 — iny fears increase 
respecting subsistence; and if the State of North Carolina continues to 
bring out such shoals of useless militia, as they have done in the last 
season, it will be impossible to subsist an army in this countrj^. 
Ten of the militia drawn out in classes are not worth one of your 
men, whose all depend upon their own bravery. What gives safety 
to one, brings on ruin to the other. If your militia don't fight, their 
families are exposed. If the others run away, their persons ai-e 
safe." 

In the account of the battle of Cowpens an allusion has 
been made to a difference which had arisen between Gen- 
eral Morgan and General Sumter. This difference, which 
was never reconciled between these two towering spirits, 
which was to have lasting and far-reaching consequences, 
arose from Morgan's assumed control of Sumter's men, 
without reference to him ; and as this difference between 
the two involved the relation of the States to the Confed- 
eration, and was supposed to have been also the origin of 
the unfortunate relations which grew up between Sumter 
and Greene as well, it deserves more than a passing notice. 

It will be recollected that, on the 6th of October, 1780, 
when there was not a Continental soldier in South Caro- 
lina, nor any south of Hillsboro in North Carolina, Gov- 
ernor Rutledge had appointed Sumter brigadier general, 
sending him full instructions and intrusting him with 

VOL. IV. F 



66 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

great powers. He was directed to embody all the militia 
he could collect, and to hold them in readiness to cooper- 
ate with the Continental troops when they should come, 
receiving orders for that purpose.^ Morgan liad been 
made a brigadier general in the Continental army on the 
13th of October, 1780,^ so that Sumter's commission ante- 
dated Morgan's. When Greene, upon conference with 
Sumter, decided to send a detachment to the west of the 
Catawba, he appointed Morgan to that command, inform- 
ing him that he would be joined there by the militia of 
North Carolina, under the command of General Davidson, 
and by that lately under the command of General Sumter. 
"For the present," wrote Greene to Morgan, "I give you 
the entire command in that quarter, and do hereby require 
all officers and soldiers ensfas^ed in the American cause to 
be subject to your orders and command." Under this 
appointment, Morgan, as has been seen, had been sent to 
that region, and commenced operations threatening Ninety 
Six. A part of Greene's instructions to Morgan was to 
collect provisions and forage out of the way of the enemy, 
"which you will have formed," he wrote, "into a number 
of small magazines in the rear of the position you may 
think proper to take."^ Under these instructions Morgan 
reports to Greene on the 15th of January, from his camp 
at Burr's Mill on Thicketty Creek, among other things, as 
follows : * — 

" Sensible of the importance of having magazines of forage and 
provisions established in the country, I have left no means in my 
power unessayed to effect the business. I despatched Captain Chitty 

1 Hist, of So. Ca. in the Revolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 813. 

^ Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 140 ; Historical Register (Ileitman), 11. 

• Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 347 ; collection of T. Bailey Myera 
of New York, News and Courier, Charleston, S.C., May 10, 1881. 

* Johnson's Life of Oreene, vol. I, 370 ; collection of T. Bailey Myers 
of New York, News and Courier, Charleston, S.C., May 10, 1881, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 67 

(whom I have appointed as commissary of purchases for my com- 
mand), with orders to collect and store all the provisions that could 
be obtained between the Catawba and Broad rivers. I gave him 
directions to call on Colonel Hill, who commands a regiment of 
militia, to furnish him with a proper number of men to assist him in 
the execution of this commission, but he, to my great surprise, has 
just returned without effecting anything. lie tells me his failure 
proceeds from the want of countenance and assistance of Colonel 
Hill, who assured him that General Sumter directed him to obey no 
orders fi-om me unless they came through him." 

Upon receiving this complaint of Morgan, Greene, on 
the 19th of January, wrote to Sumter : ^ — 

" I imagine there must be some misapprehension about the matter, 
for I cannot suppose you could give an imjDroper order, or that you 
have the most distant wish to embarrass the public affairs. It is 
certainly right that all orders should go through the principal to 
their dependents as well for the preservation of good government as 
to inspire a proj^er respect. This is a general rule, and should never 
be deviated from but in cases of necessity or when the difficulty of 
conveying an order through the principal will be attended with a 
fatal delay. In that case the order should be directed to the branches 
and not to the principal, and as the head is subject to the order the 
branches are, of course, for it would be very extraordinary if a cap- 
tain should presume to dispute an order from his general because it 
was not communicated through his colonel. At the same time that 
the right is indisputable, it should always be avoided but in case of 
absolute necessity." 

General Greene then continues, assuring Sumter of Mor- 
gan's high regard for his character, and that if there had 
been interference contrary to the general principles which 
should govern military affairs, it must have happened 
through inadvertence, or from a persuasion that Sumter 
had not intended to exercise command during the time of 
his indisposition. Greene dismisses this subject in his let- 
ter, which is a very long one, with this appeal to Sumter's 
magnanimity, ending, as usual, with a moral lecture : — 
1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, 79. 



G8 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

"If anything in his [Morgan's] conduct has had the appearance 
of indelicacy or neglect, I hope you will not suffer it to bias your 
conduct from that line which has given you might and influence 
among your countrymen. It is tlie mark of a great mind to rise 
superior to little injuries, and our object should be the good of our 
country and not personal glory." ^ 

If Sumter had given sucli a general order to Colonel 
Hill, about wliicli, however, Greene expresses a doubt, he 
certainly erred in doing so, for occasions might arise in 
which it would be not only proper, but necessary, that in- 
termediate commanders should be for the immediate pur- 
pose overlooked, and the order extended directly to the 
subordinate officer in the absence of his immediate com- 
mander. But, on the other hand, nothing but pressing 
necessity would justify such a deviation from the general 
rule requiring all orders to be transmitted through the 
regular channels; and this case seems to have presented 
no such occasion for its violation. It is easy to understand 

1 Sumter MSS. Greene writes in a similar strain to Morgan : "I am 
surprised that General Sumter should give such an order as you mention 
to Colonel Hill, nor can I persuade myself but that there must be some 
mistake in the matter, for though it is the most military to convey orders 
through the principal to the dependents, as well from propriety as 
respect, yet this may not always be convenient or even practicable, and 
therefore to give a positive order not to obey was repugnant to reason and 
common sense. As the head was subject to your orders, consequently the 
dependents also. I will write General Sumter on the subject, but as it is 
better to conciliate than to aggravate matters where everything depends 
so much ■ on voluntary principles, I wish you to take no notice of the 
matter but endeavor to influence his conduct to give you all the aid in his 
power. Write him frequently and consult with him freely. He is a man 
of great pride and considerable merit and should not be neglected. If he 
has given such an order, I persuade myself he will see the impropriety of 
tlie matter and correct it in future, unless personal glory is more the 
object than public good, which I cannot suppose is the case with him or 
any other man who fights in the cause of liberty." — Collection of T. 
Bailey Myers of New York, Neios and Conrier, Charleston, S.C, May 
10, 1881. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 69 

with what indignation Sumter, with his own imperious 
temper, received this lecture on his conduct and patriotism 
in a matter in which he considered himself to have been 
the injured party. He appears to have complained to Gov- 
ernor Rutledge upon the subject, for his Excellency, in 
a letter without other date but that of " Sunday night, nine 
o'clock," but which bears intrinsic evidence of having been 
written on Sunday the 21st,^ and which was sent by a mes- 
senger from Greene to Sumter, who was now carrying the 
letter from which we have just quoted, writes : — 

" Gen'l Greene and you understand the matter with respect to 
you not having any command at present in a very different way — 
as I perceived on speaking to him a few days ago on that point. 
However I presume he has explained himself to you respecting it. I 
am sorry to hear that you mend so slowly and that the enemy are 
plotting to take you, but I hope you will escape all their endeavors 
and be able soon to take the field and render further important ser- 
vices to the country." 

This letter, after giving Sumter the latest information 
from Congress, thus concludes : — 

"I shall be glad that you continue to give Gen'l Greene and 
myself the earliest intelligence of any material movements of the 
enemy or any accurate information, reporting any which app: 
material & you will give out orders to the militia in your Brigade 
not already in the field with Gen'l Morgan as you conceive the 
good of the service renders most expedient." ^ 

Johnson, whose devotion to the reputation of Greene 
does not allow him to see any justification in the conduct 
of those who in any way crossed his views or plans, thus 
severely comments upon Sumter's conduct in this matter : 

^ The Governor mentions in this letter information derived from a 
person who had left Camden "last Wednesday," that Leslie was there on 
that day. This fixes the Wednesday mentioned as the 17th of January, 
1781. Leslie crossed to join Cornwallis on the 18th. 

2 Sumter MSS., Tear Book, City of Charleston, 1889, Appendix. 



70 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

" It is not easy to assign a satisfactory or even plausible 
reason for Colonel Sumpter's interference on that occasion 
to prevent his officers from executing the commands of 
General Morgan. The commander of the Southern De- 
partment was not only the supreme military governor of 
the country, but Colonel Sumpter was at that time actually 
out of the State and still confined by his wounds. Colonel 
Sumpter, it seems, complained of some interference of Mor- 
gan with his commands, but in what instances or to what 
effect we are not informed. But supposing it to have ex- 
isted, still the authority of General Greene was sufficient 
to sanction it, and although Colonel Sumpter might have 
had cause to complain, nothing could justify him in un- 
dertaking to resist the execution of an order from the com- 
mander of the Southern Department." ^ 

This criticism is scarcely in accord with the high judicial 
character of the author. He admits that he was not in- 
formed as to the cause of Sumter's complaint, but proceeds 
to condemn Sumter upon the supposed sanction by Greene 
of Morgan's conduct, which he assumes was sufficient. 
It will be observed that the Judge speaks of Sumter as 
" Colonel^' when the fact is that Sumter was himself a G-en- 
eral^ with a commission antedating that of Morgan, with 
whose command he is condemned for interfering. The 
explanation, therefore, that Mr. Justice Johnson gives in a 
note,^ i.e.^ that Morgan had been made a general to obviate 
the inconvenience of his being ranked by State officers into 
whose districts he was sent, will not hold. Indeed, it is 
conclusive against Morgan's assumed superiority of rank, 
for it presupposes that unless his grade was higher than the 
State officers with whom he came in contact, he would be 
subject to their command. The Constitution of the United 
States gives specifically to Congress the power of organiz- 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 410. ^ Ibid., 412. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 71 

ing, arming, and disciplining the militia of the States, and 
governing such part of them as may be employed in the 
service of the United States ; ^ and under this specific power 
Congress has by statute provided that militia officers, when 
employed in conjunction with the regular or volunteer 
forces of the United States, shall take rank next after offi- 
cers of like grade in the regular service.^ But this pro- 
vision is a statutory one under the present Constitution ; 
without it militia officers holding senior commissions would 
rank and command regular officers of like grade. And 
tliis was the case of Sumter; his commission from Gov- 
ernor Rutledge as brigadier general antedated Morgan's 
commission of the same grade from Congress. There was 
nothing in the Articles of Confederation which gave power 
to the Continental Congress to govern the militia of the 
States. ^ General Sumter was only subject to Greene's 
orders as directed by Governor Rutledge ; and it will be 
observed that Governor Rutledge had not put him under 
Morgan's command. The governor's directions were that 
he should cooperate with the Continental troops, and give 
orders to the militia in his brigade, not already in the field 
with Morgan, as he (Sumter) conceived the good of the 

1 Art. 8, Sec. 8, Subdiv. 15. 

2 Articles of War, 124 ; Bevised Statutes U. S., 241. 

* In 1776, when General Charles Lee undertook, it will be remembered, 
to direct the militia of the State without reference to the Governor, his 
right to do so was at once questioned, and though to avoid then any 
conflict of authority in the emergency, John Rutledge as President 
had put the command of the militia under Lee, when that officer intimated 
his purpose of abandoning Fort Moultrie Rutledge promptly intervened, 
resumed his authority, and wrote to Moultrie, " General Lee wishes you 
to abandon the fort. You will not without a written order from me. 
I would rather cut off my hand than write one." — Hist, of So. Ca. in the 
Bevolution, 1775-80, 140, 144. And again, in 1779, upon the invasion 
of Charlestown, his Excellency again exhibited his jealousy of the control 
of Continental officers over his militia. — Ibid, 358, 359. 



72 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

service rendered most expedient. Morgan had, therefore, 
no right to be giving orders to Sumter himself, still less to 
Sumter's officers without Sumter's knowledge. But sup- 
posing he had the right to command Sumter, his conduct 
in other matters was clearly irregular and unjustified.^ 

General Greene, in his letter to Sumter, states very 
correctly the military rule that all orders to subordinates 
should go through intermediate commanders, and that the 
rule ought not to be deviated from but in case of neces- 
sity; but, strange to say, he does not attempt to explain 
to Sumter wherein lay the propriety of the application 
of the exception in this case. Assuming Morgan's right, 
by virtue of the Continental commission, to command 
Sumter, whose commission, of equal grade, antedated his 
own, Greene writes to Sumter, upon Morgan's complaint, 
that Morgan was an exceedingly good officer, who perfectly 
understood his duty and had the highest respect for his 
(Sumter's) character. But that did not meet the question, 
even admitting Morgan's right to command. The truth 
was that Morgan's order to Colonel Hill did not come 
within the rule as stated by Greene himself. The order 
was not one issued in an emergency, when the difficulty 
of extending it through the regular channels would be 

1 If General Sumter had really given such an order his precedent was 
followed by distinguished generals. The following extract is given from 
an order of General Andrew Jackson : — 

" Headquarters Division of the South, Nashville. 
" April 22, 1817. 
"The Commanding General considers it due to the principles which ought 
and must exist in an army to prohibit obedience of any order emanating 
from the Department of War to officers of this division . . . unless 
coming through him as the proper organ of communication. The object 
of this is to prevent the recurrences," etc. 

General Zachary Taylor is said also to have denounced such violation of 
military usage. — Two Wars, an autobiography (S. G. French), 160. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 73 

attended with inconvenience or delay. It was an adminis- 
trative order of a permanent character — an order directing 
Colonel Hill, one of Sumter's partisan leaders, to detail a 
number of men to assist Morgan's commissary in collecting 
supplies, an order detailing men from Sumter's command, 
without his approval or knowledge. The impropriety of 
the order will be still further understood when it is 
recollected that neither Sumter nor Hill had any men 
permanently in the field from which to make such details, 
nor was there really any militia under their command. A 
militia presupposes an existing established government 
under which citizens are organized and called into the 
field. It cannot exist where there is no government to 
regulate or support it. There was no such government in 
South Carolina. Nearly all the original leaders of the 
Revolutionar}^ ptirty, including, with the exception of Gov- 
ernor Rutledge himself, all the State officials, were either 
in exile at St. Augustine or confined in the prison ships in 
Charlestown harbor. Dictatorial powers had been intrusted 
to Governor Rutledge and such of his council as he could 
convene ; but he was not even in the State. "Wisely and 
properly, he remained just beyond its border, under the 
protection of Greene's small army; for, had he been cap- 
tured, there would not have remained a nucleus upon which 
to reorganize a government when the State should be 
redeemed. Sumter's men were volunteers, and nothing 
more. There was no government to call and compel 
their attendance, as there was none to support them while 
in the field or on duty. Under Sumter's call they would 
leave their families, and on their own horses would join 
him, with provisions of their own supplying for the immedi- 
ate occasion. But it was the immediate occasion only for 
which they could remain in the field. As soon as that 
was over, whether for good or evil, victory or defeat, they 



74 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

must return to their farms to provide for their families. 
It was from these people that Morgan had ordered Colonel 
Hill to furnish him with a detail to assist his commissary 
to gather forage and provisions, — not for immediate use, 
but to be stored away in magazines in his rear, It was 
to Sumter himself that Governor Rutledge had intrusted 
the power and authority to call out the militia, as the 
partisan bands were called. Whatever questions, if any, 
might arise when in the field, as to the right of a Con- 
tinental officer to supersede the authority of a State officer 
of equal rank, there was no power given, nor could there 
be any given, to Continental officers to draft citizens into 
the service ; nor would such an order have been tolerated 
in any of the States. 

General Greene's explanation to Sumter of Morgan's 
conduct, that it had happened through inadvertence, or 
from a persuasion that Sumter did not mean to exercise 
command during the time of his indisposition, could 
scarcely have been expected to have satisfied the offended 
general, in view of the fact that Greene himself was in 
constant correspondence and communication with him, as 
was also Governor Rutledge, and that communications to 
Morgan himself were passing through Sumter's hands ; 
that during this very time, though he was still suffering 
from his wound, Greene was relying upon him for intelli- 
gence as to the enemy's movements, and treating him in 
all respects as if in actual command. Even supposing that 
this was a proper occasion on which orders might be sent 
to a subordinate directly, military rule required that the 
intermediate commander should at once have been notified, 
and a copy of such an order sent him ; and as both Greene 
and Morgan were in communication with Sumter, there 
was not the slightest excuse for Morgan's conduct.^ 
^ See U. 8. Army Begulations, sec. 660. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 75 

It is true that, however Sumter might justly have com- 
plained of Morgan's interfering with his command, and 
issuing orders to his officers without even notice to him, 
he had no right to refuse to obey an order properly issued 
because of his disapproval of its policy. Nor is it charged 
that he did so ; but, further to complicate the matter, the 
order to Hill was one upon a subject of great delicacy. 
How was this forage and these provisions, which Hill was 
ordered to detail men to gather and guard, to be obtained ? 
Greene was absolutely without money to purchase them, 
and the provisions thus to be taken and stored away in 
magazines were to be impressed ; that is, taken by force 
from the people of a section already harried by the march- 
ing and countermarching, pillaging and plundering, of 
both the contending armies. We have seen how Washing- 
ton, the year before, while Greene was his quartermaster, 
hesitated to resort to such measures in New Jersey, though 
desperately pressed for supplies, and that every such 
attempt was resented in the Northern States.^ It was to 
furnish men for this purpose that Hill was called upon by 
Morgan. And this, too, when it was known that Sumter 
disapproved of the whole scheme from a military point of 
view. 

In this opinion Sumter was undoubtedly right, as sub- 
sequent events fully proved. The folly of establishing 
magazines of supply in a country in which there was 
no army to protect them was manifest to him. Greene 
had taken a position at Cheraw which, however excellent 
in his opinion, left the country towards the mountains 
entirely open and exposed. Morgan's small force was 
the only American body in that region, and that was 
utterly inadequate to do more than strike a blow and 
retreat. To collect supplies in his rear therefore — more 
1 Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 841. 



76 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

than sufficient for immediate use — was simply to collect 
them for the enemy. And as it soon happened that this 
country was abandoned by Greene, supplies collected 
there would have fallen into the enemy's hands. It is 
curious to observe the inconsistencies of the justifications 
of Greene and Morefan in this matter. Judge Johnson 
first charges that the opposition of General Sumter to 
Morgan's collecting magazines in his rear, put an end 
to all hope of a rapid retreat to the mountains, after he 
should have given battle to Tarleton.^ And yet farther 
on he declares that Morgan was unjustly charged with 
an intention of crossing the mountains. He states that 
nothing was less consistent with the facts than the story 
which first made its appearance in Ramsay's History of the 
Me volution in South Carolina and was repeated by General 
Moultrie in his Memoirs ; that even from the battle-field 
the route Morgan took led away from the mountains, and 
towards a point where he contemplated forming a junction 
with the main army.^ But if so, why then blame Sumter 
for objecting to establishing magazines of supplies on a 
route Morgan did not intend even to follow? Sumter and 
his men had been too long holding the country for the 
coming of the great armies from the North, which never 
arrived, to be willing to strip his people of the few sup- 
plies they had to be stored in advance for such forces — 
stores which, collected, as he foresaw, must inevitably fall 
into the enemy's hands. 

But beyond all this, and more far-reaching, was the 
radical misconception of Greene, to which he persistently 
clung tln-oughout the campaign until Governor Rutledge's 
return to the State, and upon which almost all of his 
complaints against Sumter were based, in assuming that 
Sumter had a regular militia under his command which 
1 Johnson's Life, of Greene, vol. I, 371. « Ibid., 408. 



IN" THE REVOLUTION 77 

he could call out, and require to attend under adequate 
penalties, whenever he saw fit of himself or was called 
upon to do so.^ As we have before explained, and must 
again impress upon the reader, there was no civil govern- 
ment in South Carolina, during this time, and no militia ; 
the militia, so called, were but the personal voluntary 
followers of Sumter, Marion, and their partisan officers, 
over whom they had no further control than that their 
own patriotism enjoined. There was, hence, nobody from 
whom Sumter or Hill could make details to guard stores. 

Morgan and Sumter were no doubt alike imperious in 
their natures, and Sumter was unfitted to submit to the 
arrogant tone which Morgan assumed in regard to the 
men Sumter had led on so many hard-fought fields, still 
less so to Greene's lectures on patriotism and personal 
conduct. Very likely, from what he had himself seen, 
Sumter had no better opinion of the Continental troops 
sent to the South than Morgan affected to have had of 
his brave followers. But, however that may be, upon 
a review of the unfortunate controversy which led to the 
estrangement of the two principal officers in the coming 
campaign in South Carolina, Sumter is certainly not to 
bear the whole odium. 

From his camp on Snow Island Marion had been carry- 
ing on successfully his raids upon the enemy's communi- 
cations with Charlestown, causing them to expend their 
forces in establishing a post at Nelson's Ferry, and in 
guarding every exposed point below the Santee. So serious 
were these inroads of Marion that Tarleton, it will be 

1 And yet, in his letter to Morgan upon the question between Sumter 
and himself, before quoted, there is an allusion which indicates that he 
understood the true condition. He writes to Morgan, urging him to con- 
cilliate Sumter rather than aggravate matters " where everything depends 
so much on voluntary principles.'''' 



78 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

remembered, had been sent to break hira up ; but had 
been recalled by Cornvvallis to defend him against Sum- 
ter, who had just defeated Wemyss at Fishdam, and was 
then at Blackstock on his other flank. Tarleton had 
failed to find the Swamp Fox, but had, with less difficulty 
and no more honor, fallen upon Sumter. As soon as 
released from Tarleton's presence, Marion was again on 
the road, as we have mentioned, against a party of the 
enemy, under Majors McArthur and Coffin, about Nelson's 
Ferry, and between that and the High Hills of Santee. 
With the hope of cutting off his retreat, a strong detach- 
ment had been pushed from Charlestown to Georgetown; 
but, informed of the movement, Marion had again retired 
to his safe retreat at Snow Island. Curiously enough, 
General Greene, who had, on his arrival, received a report 
from Marion of these operations, addressed to General 
Gates, instead of lecturing Marion on the subject, and 
informing him, as he informed Sumter, that this was not 
a war of outposts, and depreciating his partisan strokes 
however brilliant, on the day he takes command, writes to 
Marion, on the contrary : — 

" I have not the honor of your acquaintance, but am no stranger 
to your character and merits. Your services in the lower part of 
South Carolina in awing the Tories, and preventing the enemy from 
extending their limits, have been very important. And it is my ear- 
nest desire that you continue where you are until further advice from 
me. . . . Until a more permanent army can be collected than is in 
the field at present, we must endeavor to keep up a partisan warfare, 
and preserve the tide of sentiment among the people in our favor as 
much as possible." ^ 

But if this was true for Marion, why not for Sumter? 
Why write to Marion to keep up a partisan warfare until 
a permanent army could be collected, and to Sumter that 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 357. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 79 

partisan strokes in war are but the garnish of a table, 
giving splendor to the army and reputation to the leaders, 
but accomplishing no substantial purpose ? If it was worth 
while to encourage Marion to preserve, by these sallies, the 
tide of sentiment among the people, why discourage Sum- 
ter by telling him that the enemy would never relinquish 
their hold, nor the people be firm in our favor, until they 
had a better barrier in the field than a volunteer militia ? 

In his letter to Greene informing him of his appointment 
to command in the Southern Department, General Washing- 
ton had mentioned that he had put Major Lee's corps 
under marching orders to join him, and that Congress had 
promised to promote Lee to a lieutenant-colonelcy. This 
Congress had done,^ and Colonel Lee had been expected to 
march early in October from Philadelphia, but the equip- 
ping and disciplining of his command had retarded his 
movements ; his journey from Fredericksburg to Richmond, 
for instance, occupied a fortnight, not a little to the distress 
of Greene, who, having sent home Armand's corps as no 
longer to be depended upon, after their conduct at Gates's 
defeat,^ and having sent all of Washington's cavalry with 
Morgan, had not a horseman with his army. In Maryland, 
General Greene had made a requisition for sundry equip- 
ments for the Legion, and the liberal spirit in which the 
requisition was complied with gave Lee an opportunity of 
equipping his cavalry in a brilliant style. In Virginia 
they were received and completed by Steuben, and moved 
on at the same time with a body of recruits.^ 

1 Lieutenant-Colonel Lee's commission was dated the 6th of November, 
1780. — Campaigns in the Carolinas (Lee), 172. 

2 See Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 673. 

8 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 35i. "The Legionary corps com- 
manded by Colonel Lee," says Judge Johnson, " was perhaps the finest 
corps that made its appearance in the arena of the Revolution. It was 
formed expressly for Colonel Lee under an order of General Washing- 



80 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAllOLINA 

Virginia had now collected about one thousand recruits, 
but which could not be sent into the field for want of 
clothing; but this to a measure Thomas Jefferson, Governor, 
remedied by impressment under his very extensive powers, 
and from the articles thus procured Steuben was able, by 

ton whilst the army lay in Jersey. It consisted at the time of about three 
hundred men in equal proportion of infantry and horse. Both men and 
horses were picked from the army, the officers with reference only to 
their talents, and the men by a proportional selection from the troops of 
each State, enlisted for three years of the war. Virginia contributed twenty- 
five. No State south of Virginia contributed any, as they had no troops 
in the field." This must be understood, of course, to mean that the three 
Southern States had no troops in Washington's army, for the Continental 
troops of South Carolina and Georgia were stationed on the southern 
coast. It may have been that there were no troops in the Legion from 
any State south of Virginia, but it is a mistake to say that there were no 
troops from any of these States in Washington's army, for almost the 
whole North Carolina regiments of the line were with the Commander-in- 
chief. There were twenty-three officers of the Legion during the service 
in North and South Carolina. These were from the following States : 
from Virginia, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee, Commandant ; Captauis 
Patrick Carnes, Jose^jh Eggleston, and George Handy ; Lieutenants George 
Carrington, William Winston, and Peter Johnson ; Cornet Clement 
Carrington, and Dr. Alexander Skinner, surgeon (9) ; from Pennsyl- 
vania, Lieutenants Robert Power, and Lawrence Manning, and Dr. 
Matthew Irvine, surgeon (3) ; from Maryland, Major John Eudulph, 
Captain Michael Eudulph (2) ; from Massachusetts, Lieutenant William 
Lovell, adjutant (1) ; from New Jersey, Lieutenant Jonathan Snowden 
(1) ; from South Carolina, Lieutenant John Middleton (1) ; from France, 
Captain Ferdinand O'Neill (usually spelled O'Neall). We have not been 
able to ascertain from what States the following officers came : Captains 
Archer, Hurd, and James Armstrong, and Lieutenants Lunsford and 
Jordan (6). To these officers should be added Alexander Garden, who 
served for some time with the Legion as a volunteer after its arrival in 
South Carolina. On the arrival of the Legion in Soutli Carolina Governor 
Rnttledge,then at the Cheraws, gave Colonel Lee authority for recruiting 

it in the State : — 

" CiiKRAws, 11 January, 1781. 

"Colonel Lee, being desirous of raising abf)Ut one hundred and fifty 
cavalry on a regular and permanent establishment to be attached to his 
Legion, I do not only consent to his doing so, but recommend to active 



IN THE REVOLUTION 81 

the 1st of December, to equip four hundred of these 
recruits, enlisted for eighteen months (a great part of 
wliich had already expired), in a condition fit to be marched 
to the Southern army ; this detachment, together with a 
corps commanded by Colonel Lawson, supposed to contain 
five hundred men, were put under marching orders for the 
third of the month from Petersburg, and Steuben wrote in 
high spirits to Greene that he should forward on to him a 
reenforcement of twelve hundred men, consisting of Lee's 
and Lawson's legions and the four hundred recruits, to 
meet the enemy's reenforcements under Leslie. Steuben 
was fully alive to the importance of time, not only for 
the purpose of giving strength to the Southern army, but 
to anticipate any interruption to the marching of these 
troops from another invasion of Virginia, an event by no 
means improbable or distant, from the intelligence from 
New York; an apprehension which subsequent events 
proved to be well founded, for these troops finally moved 
off barely in time to avoid being detained to oppose 
Arnold, who had been sent by Sir Henry Clinton to re- 
place Leslie, upon his diversion to South Carolina. But 
when the day appointed for the march of Lawson's corps 
and the recruits came, not a man could be moved from the 
ground. Only one-half of Lawson's corps paraded, and 
they were ordered by the Legislature of Virginia to be 
discharged because their term of service was far advanced 
to a termination, and the officers of the detachment of 
recruits had sent a remonstrance to the legislature com- 
plaining of ill-usage. Lawson's corps was discharged, and 

and spirited young men in this State, to join him upon that footing, 
■whereby they may signalize themselves and render important service to 
their country. "J. Ruttledge." 

We have found no account of the raising of such an additional corps to 

the Legion." 

» Campaigns of ''81 in the Carolinas (Lee), 72. 

VOL. IV. — Q 



82 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the four hundred recruits detained until the middle of 
the month, that the officers might settle their differences 
with the government. On the 15th, however, Steuben 
had the happiness to see Colonel Green with four hundred 
men, and Colonel Lee with his Legion of three hundred, 
move off for the Southern army. On the 11th of January 
they reached General Greene's encampment on the Pee Dee, 
where Lee had been for some time impatiently expected 
in order to carry into effect a plan of operation projected 
against Georgetown.^ 

Marion had been commissioned brigadier general by 
Governor Rutledge soon after Sumter's appointment, and 
about the beginning of this year he organized his staff by 
the appointment of two aides, Thomas Elliott and Lewis 
Ogier. His principal officers and counsellors were Colo- 
nels Peter and Hugh Horry and James Postell. Putting 
in requisition all the saws and all the blacksmiths in the 
country, he made swords, and with them armed four troops 
of cavalry which he raised and organized into another regi- 
ment. The command of this he gave to Colonel Peter 
Horry, who had been major under him in the Second Con- 
tinental Regiment, and who was an excellent officer. Beni- 
son, who had been wounded at Nelson's Ferry when the 
prisoners of the Maryland line had been recaptured,^ was 
made major ; the captains were John Baxter, John Postell, 
Daniel Conyers, and James McCauley. A company of 
riflemen was also organized under Captain William 
McCottry, which soon became the dread of the enemy. 
These were a new race of young warriors who had sprung 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 3o4, 355, 356. Johnson gave the 
date of Lee's arrival as the 12th, but Governor Rutledge at the Cheraws 
on the 11th gives Lee authority to raise 150 cavalry for his Legion in 
South Carolina. — Campaigns of ''81 in the Garolinas (Lee), 73. 

2 Hist, of So. Ca. in the Eevolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 700. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 88 

up during the contest. The retirement of the British de- 
tachment from Georgetown leaving Marion free to resume 
operations with the force thus organized, he pushed down 
his parties near to Georgetown on all the rivers that flow 
into Georgetown Bay, and employed them in collecting 
boats and removing provisions to Snow Island. Captain 
John Postell^ was sent down Black River to the mouth of 
the Pee Dee with twenty-eight men, to take all the boats 
and canoes, to impress all the negroes and horses, and to take 
all arms and ammunition for the use of the service. He was 
to forbid all persons from carrying grain, stock, or any sort 
of provision to Georgetown, or where the enemy might get 
them ; all persons who would not join him he was to bring 
to Marion. 

On the 18th of January Captain James De Peyster, with 
twenty-nine grenadiers of the British army, had posted 
himself in the dwelling-house of Captain Postell's father. 
Towards day on the morning of the 19th, Postell, knowing 
well the ground and avoiding the guards, got possession 
of the kitchen and summoned De Peyster to surrender. 
This was at first refused, whereupon the rebel captain at 
once set fire to his father's kitchen, and summoned De 
Peyster a second time, with the positive declaration that 
if he did not surrender he would burn the house. Upon 
this the British laid down their arms and surrendered 
immediately.^ 

Soon after this Colonel Peter Horry had an affair with 
the enemy in which he was able to test the qualities of his 

1 Captain Postell was an officer of experience ; he had been a captain 
in one of the independent provincial companies prior to the Revolution, 
and as such accompanied De Brahm in 1756 in establishing Fort Prince 
George at Keovfee, afterwards the scene of the Indian massacre of 
Coytomore's garrison. — Documents connected with So. Ca. (Weston), 
208 ; Hist, of So. Ca. under Boy. Gov. (McCrady), 341. 

2 James's Life of Marion, 93. 



84 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

newly organized regiment. It was the boast of the Tories 
that, thougli Marion had proved too cunning for Colonel 
Tynes, Captain Barfield, and other British and loyal offi- 
cers, there was still one who would show him quite a dif- 
ferent sort of play ; and that was Colonel Gainey, from the 
head waters of the Pee Dee.^ It was against this officer 
that Colonel Horry had now to lead his recruits. On the 
morning of a day in the latter part of January, Marion 
ordered him with Captain Snipes and tliirty men to pro- 
ceed down the Sampit Road in quest of the enemy, and to 
charge them when found, whetlier British or Tories. In 
obeying this order Horry soon came upon a party of horse- 
men who were engaged in killing beeves for the camp 
near by. He instantly charged them before they had an 
opportunity to form. They fled, and were pursued through 
woods towards Georgetown, with some disorder on the side 
of Horry. In the meantime the firing was heard in the 
town, and the Tories under Gainey came out to the rescue 
of their friends. A savage fight now took place in the 
woods between the Sampit and Black River roads during 
the whole morning, the opposing parties alternately ad- 
vancing and retreating. At one time Horry was, as he 
supposed, left alone, and a party of the Tories under Cap- 
tain Lewis was rushing upon him, when a boy by the name of 
Gwyn shot Lewis from behind a tree, upon wliich his party, 
fearing an ambuscade, deserted their leader and ran away. 
As Lewis fell his gun was discharged and killed Horry's 
horse. The Tories were finally routed and chased into 
Georgetown. In this affair Sergeant McDonald who, it 
will be recollected, was one of the three of the prisoners 
released by Colonel Hugh Horry at Nelson's Ferry who 
availed themselves of their rescue and remained faithful to 
the cause, first exhibited the daring spirit and addi-ess for 
1 Weems's Marion, 167. 



IN THE IlEVOLUTION 85 

which he afterwards became noted. In the pursuit McDon- 
ald singled out Gainey as his object of attack. In going 
at full speed down the Black River Road he shot one of 
Gainey 's men, and, overtaking Gainey soon after, thrust a 
bayonet up to the hilt in his back. The bayonet separated 
from the gun, and Gainey reached Georgetown with the 
weapon still in his person. He recovered, but, cured of 
his taste for the field or tired of garrison life, after a few 
months he and his men deserted the British. ^ 

While thus engaged, Marion received intelligence of the 
organization of a force of Tories under Hector McNeill at 
Amie's Mill on Downing Creek,^ on the confines of the two 
States. This Hector McNeill was a person of some celebrity 
in North Carolina. He had, in the commencement of the 
Revolution, held a commission in one of the provincial 
regiments of that State, ^ but had deserted tlie cause as 
early as 1776 and had taken up arms against it. Marion 
had no force to send against McNeill, nor could he afford to 
wait his coming while his own party was broken up into 
detachments. He, therefore, called in his j^arties and com- 
municated to General Greene the necessity to reenforce him 
against his increasing enemies, and to look to the move- 
ments of McNeill, as he supposed them to be in part 
directed against the country between the Waccamaw and 
the seacoast, which had never been foraged and contained at 
this time abundance of provisions. This was the situation 
of things when Colonel Lee reached Greene's camp at 
Cheraw. He was immediately ordered to join Marion 
with his corps, comprising, on its arrival, about 280 in horse 
and foot, and which was in excellent condition, as it had 
come in easy march from Virginia. At the same time, 

1 James's Life of Marion^ 93-94. 

2 Now Lumber River. 

3 Wheeler's IliM. of No. Ca., vol. I, 71. 



i 



86 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Greene detached Major Anderson with a party of regulars 
and one hundred Virginia militia to attack and disperse 
the Tories at Aniie's Mill.^ 

Colonel Lee reached Marion's camp on the 23d of Janu- 
ary, and on the 2J:th, in pursuance of a plan previously 
agreed upon and approved by Greene, a combined attempt 
was made to surprise Georgetown. The garrison of the 
town consisted of two hundred men commanded by Colonel 
Campbell. There were some slight defensive works in 
front of the town on the land side ; but the rear of the 
place was wholly undefended, and dams running through 
the adjacent rice fields, extending from the rear of the 
town, afforded easy access to it on the southeast. The 
plan of attack was founded on the facility with which a 
force might be conveyed down the Pee Dee, undiscovered 
because of the woods and deep swamps which covered its 
banks. The force comprising the expedition was divided 
into two parties. The infantry of the Legion, about ninety 
men, under Captains Carnes'^ and Rudulph,^ were to drop 
down the Pee Dee from Snow Island in boats and under 
guides provided by Marion. The militia and cavalry of 
the Legion, under Marion and Lee, were to approach the 
town by the land side under cover of night, and when the 
infantry entered the town from the water in the rear, they 
were to assail it in front. 



1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 358-359 ; James's Life of Marion, 
Appendix, 16. Letter of General Greene to Marion of January 19, 1781, 
given, in which General Greene says, " I have detached one thousand 
regulars and one hundred Virginia militia to attack and disperse the 
Tories at Mr. Amy's Mill," etc., but there must be some mistake, prob- 
ably one hundred. 

2 Patrick Carnes, Virginia, entered service as Lieutenant Second 
Cavalry, Pulaski Legion. — Heitman, 116. 

' John Rudulpli, of Maryland, entered service as Lieutenant in the 
Legion. — Heitman, 352. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 87 

In pursuance of this plan, Captain Carnes fell silently 
down the river with his party the first night, and occupied an 
island at its mouth within a few miles of Georgetown. He 
lay concealed there the ensuing day, with directions to re- 
embark at an early hour the night following and reach 
Georgetown between one and two in the morning. Marion 
and Lee proceeded to their destination, having taken all 
the requisite precautions to prevent any intimation to the 
enemy of their approach. At twelve o'clock the second 
night they occupied, unperceived, a position in the vicinity 
of the town, and waited anxiously for the announcement of 
Carnes's arrival. At the appointed time, Carnes crossed 
from the island to Georgetown, and landed in the town 
unperceived. The garrison was surprised, and the com- 
mandant. Colonel Campbell, was seized and secured by 
Captain Carnes, who judiciously posted his party for seiz- 
ing any of the enemy who might repair to the parade 
ground. Captain Rudulph, who led another party with 
equal good fortune, gained the vicinity of the fort and 
arranged his troops so as to arrest any fugitive. On the 
first fire, which took place at the commandant's quarters, 
Marion with his men and Lee with his dragoons rushed 
into the town. To the astonishment of these officers, says 
Colonel Lee, everything was quiet, the Legion infantry hold- 
ing its assigned stations and Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell 
a prisoner. Not a British soldier appeared ; not one at- 
tempted to gain the forts or repair to the commandant. 
Having discovered their enemy, the British troops kept close 
to their respective quarters, barricaded the doors, and de- 
termined there to defend themselves. The assailants were 
unprovided with the requisite implements for battering 
doors and scaling windows. The fort was in the possession 
of the enemy, and, daylight approaching, Marion and Lee 
were, therefore, compelled to retire with a partial accom- 



88 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

plisliment of their object. Colonel Campl)ell was suffered 
to remain on parole, and the troops withdrew from George- 
town unhurt and unannoyed. Colonel Lee attributed the 
want of success to the tenderness of Marion and himself 
for the lives of their followers ; and supposes that if instead 
of placing Rudulph's detachment to intercept the fugitives 
it had been ordered to carry the fort by bayonet, suc- 
cess would have been complete. ^ Johnson, on the other 
hand, quotes Moultrie as alleging that in the hurry and 
confusion the guides became alarmed and frightened and 
lost their way to the fort; and that the cavalry did not 
arrive in time to cooperate with the infantry. The Amer- 
icans sustained no loss. The loss of the British is not 
known. Lee reported to Greene that " many were killed, 
few taken, among the former is Major Irvine, among the 
latter Colonel Campbell, the commmander of the garrison." ^ 
The British acknowledged the death of Major Irvine of the 
Loyal militia and the capture of Colonel Campbell and 
another officer.^ Major Irvine, it is related, was killed by 
one of Marion's officers. Lieutenant Cryer, who had been 
whipped by Irvine's orders some time before for attempt- 
ing to take away his horse from Georgetown.* 

While this brilliant if not entirely successful attempt 
upon Georgetown had not resulted in the capture of the 
garrison as had been hoped, it checked the forwarding of 
reenforcements to Cornwallis and caused another dispersion 
of the British troops, for, upon learning of the narrow 
escape of Georgetown, a considerable reenforcement was 
sent there. 

In the orders under which Colonel Lee marched to join 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 224, 225. 

* Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 360, 

*• The So. Ga. and Am. Gen. Gazette, January 31, 178L 

* James's Life of Marion, 91. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 89 

Marion he was instructed to direct his attention fii-st to the 
surprise of Georgetown, and then to an attempt on Watson, 
who had taken post at Nelson's Ferry ; and, notwithstand- 
ing Marion had expressed strong doubts of the practicabil- 
ity of succeeding against Watson, Greene still urged him 
to attempt it. Accordingly, after the attack upon George- 
town, Marion and Lee moved the same day directly up the 
north bank of the Santee towards Nelson's Ferry. But Wat- 
son did not wait to receive them. After throwing a gar- 
rison of about eighty men into Fort Watson, ten miles above 
Nelson's Ferry, he moved off to Camden. An attempt 
was then made to throw a detachment of dragoons across 
the river, with orders to ascend its south bank and destroy 
the enemy's stores at Colonel Thomson's plantation, in 
what is now Orangeburg County, and some other depots 
on the Congaree. Some delay ensued from the want of 
boats, but the detachment was out on that service when 
Colonel Lee was recalled with orders to hasten to Salis- 
bury and join Morgan there, retreating before Cornwallis.^ 
It is necessary therefore now to recur to the movements of 
the opposing forces west of the Catawba. 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 362. 



CHAPTER IV 

1781 

When the battle of Cowpens was fought the positions of 
the British and American forces, it will be borne in mind, 
were as follows : Morgan and Tarleton were fighting at the 
Cowpens, some twenty miles west of Broad River; Corn- 
wallis lay with the main British army at Turkey Creek, 
between the Broad and the Catawba ; Leslie with his reen- 
forcements was at Camden just east of the Catawba, there 
known as the Wateree ; while Greene with his little army 
was opposite Cheraw on the eastern side of the Pee Dee ; 
and Marion lay at Snow Island, a hundred miles east of 
Cheraw. Four great rivers ran between Morgan and 
Greene, — the Broad, the Catawba, Lynch's Creek, and the 
Pee Dee. If Morgan, victorious or in defeat, were to at- 
tempt to reach Greene, he must first cross the Broad and 
expect to meet Cornwallis with the main British army as 
he did so. If Greene were to attempt to cross tlie Pee Dee 
to meet Morgan, Leslie was lying at Camden watching to 
strike hira. Notwithstanding, therefore, the victory at 
Cowpens and the complacency with which Greene had 
surveyed his position on the Pee Dee, the American forces 
were in a most precarious condition. To unite, either wing 
must in the outset cross a great river and meet a superior 
force. On the 23d of January, a week after the battle at 
Cowpens, and the day upon which Marion and Lee appeared 
before Georgetown, Greene received news of Morgan's vic- 
tory and at once despatched " the glorious intelligence " 

90 



IN THE REVOLUTION 91 

to Marion and to Lee.^ He made, however, no move to join 
Morgan, or to cover his retreat with his prisoners. Five 
days after he was still on the Pee Dee, urging Marion to 
cross the Santee.^ 

It was not yet noon when the battle of Cowpens was 
ended. Morgan, knowing of the proximity of Cornwallis, 
halted no longer on the field of battle than to refresh his 
men and prisoners, and make the provision which human- 
ity required of him. He boldly moved across the Broad 
that evening, leaving Colonel Pickens with a detachment 
of his partisans to bury the dead, and provide as far as 
possible for the wants and comforts of the wounded of both 
armies. After making such provision as he could for their 
care and attendance, the wounded of both armies were left 
upon the field of battle under a safeguard and a flag, and 
the next day Pickens rejoined his commander. Early in 
the morning Morgan had resumed his march, anxiously 
expecting and fearing the return of his patrols with intelli- 
gence that the enemy was at hand ; but, strange to say, 
though, encumbered with his prisoners, he was then mov- 
ing directly across the enemy's front, none appeared to 
assail his flank and arrest his progress. To his great sur- 
prise and relief authentic intelligence was received, not 
only that the enemy had not moved, but that he showed 
no intention to move that day. Morgan, however, still 
pressed on, and reached the fords of the Catawba, which he 
crossed. Two rivers which had separated him from his 
commander-in-chief had thus been safely passed. 

While Leslie was leisurely crossing the Catawba to join 
Cornwallis, Morgan was at Gilbertown — the present Lincoln- 
ton in North Carolina. Here Morgan detached the greater 
part of his militia, as he called them, and a part of Colonel 

1 Greene's letter to Marion, James's Life of Marion^ Appendix, 18. 
* General Huger's letter to Marion, January 28, ibid., 20. 



92 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLTNA 

"Washington's cavalry, as a guard, with the prisoners. At 
Island Ford, on the north fork of the Catawba, Washing- 
ton left the prisoners with the volunteers under Pickens, 
and rejoined Morgan, who remained between them and the 
enemy. Major Hyrne, the commissary of prisoners, now 
relieved Colonel Pickens of his charge, and marched with 
the six hundred prisoners to the prisoner camp established 
at Charlottesville, Virginia. 

Upon the diversion of the force sent under Leslie from 
the invasion of Virginia to the reenforcement of Cornwallis 
in South Carolina, Sir Henry Clinton had despatched another 
body to the Chesapeake to renew that movement, and the 
advance of this force under the traitor Arnold liad, on the 
4th of January, ascended the James River and debarked 
seven hundred men about twenty-five miles below Rich- 
mond. Cornwallis, learning of this and that a further 
embarkation of troops destined for Virginia under General 
Philips was about to take place, determined to renew his 
invasion of North Carolina to cooperate with this movement 
against Virginia. On the 19th of January, that is, three 
days after Tarleton's defeat at Cowpens, Leslie having 
formed a junction with him, Cornwallis began his march 
northward. ^ 

1 This movement of Lord Cornwallis in prosecution of the original 
ministerial plan was the subject of bitter controversy in England after the 
loss of the colonies. Sir Henry Clinton attributed to it all of the subse- 
quent disaster to the British arms. He admits that such an advance had 
been part of the original plan by which the war was to have been 
prosecuted from South to North, and that upon Lord Cornwallis's junc- 
tion with the forces of Leslie sent to meet him in Virginia the objective 
point was to have been Baltimore, and thence an advance northwardly. 
But Sir Henry's contention was that, after his reverses in South Carolina 
and tlie failure of the Loyalists in North Carolina to rise in 1780, as had 
been expected, Lord Cornwallis .should have abandoned the campaign and 
remained in South Carolina (Clinton- Cor nivaUis Controversy, 2 volumes, 
compiled by B. F. Stevens, London, 1888). But whatever force there is 



IN THE REVOLUTION 93 

Colonel Lee states that Greene was quickly advised of 
the advance of the British from Winnsboro ; indeed, that he 
learned of this movement before he learned of Morgan's 
victory, and that he accordingly issued preparatory orders 
for the movement of his own troops.^ He heard of the vic- 
tory on the 23d, for on that day he wrote to Marion inform- 
ing him of it, and requesting him to communicate the 
intelligence to Lee, but there is no intimation in his letter of 
any movement on his part, on the contrary, he left Lee to 
continue his attack upon Georgetown.^ He writes again to 
Marion on the 25th, reiterating the agreeable news of the 
defeat of Tarleton, and urging an attack by Lee and himself 

in Sir Henry's position must be restricted to his lordship's decision and 
action after his losses at Cowpens, and must not include his previous 
losses at King's Mountain, etc., in 1780, for if these former reverses should 
have influenced the combined movements, Sir Henry was himself as 
much to blame in the matter as Cornwallis — nay, more so, for he was 
the Commander-in-chief and should have countermanded the movement. 
He was immediately informed of the disaster at King's Mountain by Lord 
Rawdon, who wrote to Sir Henry on the 29th of October, during the illness 
of Lord Cornwallis, giving Sir Henry a full account of it {Clinton- Corn- 
wallis Controversy, vol. 1, 277). This letter Clinton received on the 5th of 
December, and on the 13th replied to Lord Cornwallis, acknowledging the 
receipt of Lord Rawdou's letter, approving his lordship's call to Leslie to 
join him, and informing his lordship that he had sent Arnold with a 
corps to replace Leslie's, which had gone to him {ibid., .310). Cornwallis 
received this letter of Sir Henry on the 6th of January {ibid., 315). Had 
Sir Henry then thought proper to abandon the ministerial plan, he should 
have so instructed his lordship in his letter of the 13th. Unless, there- 
fore, the defeat of Tarleton at Cowpens should have influenced him, 
Cornwallis had no choice under his existing instructions but to proceed 
with the plans, as he did on the 19th. He writes to Sir Henry on the 18th, 
the day before he began his march, "It is impossible to foresee all the 
consequences that this unexpected and extraordinary event [Tarleton's 
defeat at Cowpens] may produce, but your Excellency may be assured 
that nothing but the most absolute necessity shall induce me to give up 
the important object of the winter's campaign," etc. {Ibid., 321.) 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 282. 

2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist, of the Am. liev. (1781-82), 16. 



I 



94 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

on Watson at Nelson's Ferry, saying nothing of his own 
movements.^ On the 26th he writes to Lee tliat he intended 
to start for Charlotte to consult with Morgan, Davidson, 
Sumter, and Pickens in regard to assembling all his force 
and moving against Ninety Six. But on further reflection, 
it is said, he abandoned these ideas, and determined to Hmit 
his plans to a junction of his main body with Morgan, and 
resisting, if possible, Cornwallis's advance to Virginia.^ If, 
as Colonel Lee says, Greene received the gratifying intelli- 
gence of Morgan's victory the day after he heard of Corn- 
wallis's advance, it was, therefore, on the 22d that he did 
so, and yet it was not until the 28th that he decided upon 
his course in consequence, and then, as his biographer says, 
he committed what will be deemed by many the most im- 
prudent action of his life. With only a guide, one aide, and 
a sergeant's guard of cavalry, he started across the country 
to join the army of General Morgan and aid him in his 
arduous operations. The distance was one hundred miles 
at least, the country infested with Tories, and Camden not 
far on his left where such a prize would be liberally paid 
for.^ This was indeed a most extraordinary step to have 
taken after six days of hesitation and indecision. Why he 
should have deemed it so necessary to abandon his main 
army and leave it under Huger, to join Morgan with his 
detachment, as to warrant this mad ride, it is difficult to 
imagfine. Before he started he had recalled Lee and directed 
General Isaac Huger to follow with the army he had at 
Cheraw, and to join Morgan at Salisbury. Huger, on the 
29th, began his march, and South Carolina was again aban- 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist, of the Am. Bev. (1781-82), 17. 

^ Great Commanders Series, General Greene (Greene), 193-194. 

' Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 394, In the Great Commanders 
Series, General Greene, it is said that he was accompanied by his aide, 
Major Burnet, a sergeant, and three mounted militiamen, 194. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 95 

doned by the Continental army, to contend as best she might 
with the British forces still remaining within her border. 

The position at Cheraw with which General Greene was 
so much pleased when he took it did not prove to have the 
advantage which he supposed. It did not compel Lord 
Cornwallis to divide his forces. On the contrary, his lord- 
ship did not hesitate to order Leslie to join him when he 
was ready to move, though Greene was still at Cheraw ; nor 
did he hesitate to prosecute his views on Virginia, and to 
advance into North Carolina, though Greene was upon his 
flank ; nor did Greene find it practicable to advance upon 
Charlestown, the goal of all movements in the South. 
Instead of all this, as Greene had fondly considered, he 
found himself cut off from Morgan despite Morgan's vic- 
tory, and forced, as he deemed, to take a most desperate 
ride across the country to join Morgan, leaving his army 
under Huger to make the best of its way after him. Had 
Cornwallis advanced with promptness and despatch he 
would completely have divided Greene's forces, which he 
would have crushed, one after the other. Greene's es- 
cape was entirely the result of his lordship's dilatoriness. 
Greene reached Morgan on the 30th, and learned that Corn- 
wallis was only a few miles away, across the Catawba. 

The British forces in South Carolina on the 1st of Decem- 
ber, 1780, amounted to 7384.^ Sir Henry Clinton estimated 
that Lord Cornwallis ought to have had with him, after 
the battle of Cowpens, 3000 men exclusive of cavalry and 
militia. ^ The loss at Cowpens was 784. Deducting the 
3784 from the British forces in the State on the 1st of Decem- 
ber, 1780, there remained 3600 men. But Lord Cornwallis 
did not take all his army with him when he marched for 
North Carolina. He left with Lord Rawdon, at Camden, 

1 Washington's Writings, vol. V, Appendix, 544. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 4. 



96 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the Sixty-third Regiment and Rawdon's own, the Volun- 
teers of Ireland. These Rawdon estimated at 700 ; ^ but 
Stedman, the historian, places the number at 800. ^ There 
still remained therefore, in South Carolina, a British force 
of at least 4300 men, against which Sumter and Marion, 
alone with their volunteers, were left to contend. 

There seems to have been some question upon whom 
the command of the British forces remaining in South 
Carolina devolved in the absence of Lord Cornwallis. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Nisbet Balfour, the commandant at 
Charlestown, was the ranking officer in the line, he being 
lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-third Regiment, known 
as the "Welsh Fusileers," of which Sir William Howe was 
colonel, while Lord Rawdon, holding the position on the 
staff of adjutant general with the rank of lieutenant 
colonel, was ranked by Balfour in the line, and was 
colonel only of a provincial regiment, the Volunteers of 
Ireland, which he had raised in Philadelphia, and as 
such, it was said, was subordinate to the youngest lieu- 
tenant colonel of the line. But Cornwallis, before he 
left the State, had intrusted the command of the troops 
on the frontier to Lord Rawdon, limiting Colonel Balfour's 
command to the country within the Santee, Congaree, 
and Saluda rivers.^ This arrangement was not at all 

^ Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), Appendix, 615. 

2 Stedman's Am. War, vol. II, 355. 

3 Letter of Marquis of Hastings, formerly Lord Rawdon, written July 
23, 1813, appendix to Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 613, 

The comparative rank of Lord Rawdon and Colonel Balfour was a 
matter about which there was question, and one which we shall see 
assuming considerable importance in the case of the execution of Colonel 
Isaac Hayne and of their respective responsibility therefor. The facts 
appear to be that Lord Rawdon was a lieutenant colonel on the staff of 
the British army, and as such was adjutant general to Sir Henry 
Clinton ; but desiring to serve in the line, he had raised in Philadelphia a 
provincial regiment, the " Volunteers of Ireland," of which he was colonel. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 97 

satisfactory to Lord Rawclon, who complained that he 
was left to defend Camden, a position which he had 
always reprobated as being on the wrong side of the 
river and covering nothing, with but seven hundred men. 
He complained that his only concern with the interior 
posts of Motte's House, Granby, and Ninety Six was the 
necessity he was under of subordinating his movements 
to their protection, while he could draw no reenforcements 
from them for his own, or even for the protection of 
his communications, without the leave of Colonel Balfour, 
between whom and himself there was an estrangement. 
Sir Henry Clinton, with whom Balfour was no favorite, 
in order to assure Lord Rawdon the command, subse- 
quently promoted him to the rank of brigadier general, 
but the commission, it is said, did not arrive until Lord 
Rawdon had left the field and embarked for England. ^ 

Supposing the commission incompatible with that on the staff, he had 
tendered his resignation of the commission of lieutenant colonel. But his 
resignation was not accepted. Lord George Germain, Secretary of State 
for the Colonies, writing to Sir Henry Clinton July 5, 1780, says : "The 
King is fully sensible of his lordship's merits, and of the great advantage 
which the corps under his command has derived from his lordship's at- 
tention to it ; but his Majesty commands me to signify to you his royal 
pleasure that you do immediately acquaint his lordship that he still re- 
tains his rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the army." — Clinton- Cornwallis 
Controversy, vol. I, 230. Lord Cornwallis certainly regarded Rawdon as 
ranking Balfour. He writes to Lord George Germain on August 20, 1780, 
" I set out on the 21st of June for Charlestown, leaving the command of the 
troops on the frontier to Lord Rawdon, who was, after Brigadier-General 
Patterson, the commandant of Charlestown, the next officer in rank to me in 
the province.'''' — Ibid., 244. Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour had not, however 
arrived in the province on the 21st of June ; but in another letter from 
Cornwallis to Germain in which Colonel Balfour's arrival is mentioned, 
Cornwallis writes, " I likewise think it highly proper that as Lord 
Rawdon is acting with and commanding all these officers, he should be 
allowed the same allowance," to wit, the pay of a brigadier general. — 
Ihid., 240. 

^ Letter of Marquis of Hastings, supra. 

VOL. IV. — H 



98 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

While General Greene, with the Continental troops, 
had abandoned South Carolina to the domination of the 
British forces under Balfour and Rawdon, Judge John- 
son claims for him the conception of the bold operations 
undertaken by Sumter and Marion in his absence ; for 
these gallant leaders did not hesitate, with their volunteer 
bands, at once to assume the offensive in the face of the 
overwhelming force of the enemy remaining in the State. 
General Greene had certainly suggested to Marion an 
attack upon the British post at Nelson's Ferry before the 
19th of January, for he closes a letter on that day, 
*' I wish your answer respecting the practicability of 
surprising the party at Nelson's ; the route, and force you 
will be able to detach." ^ Again, on the 23d, he wrote 
to Marion : " I wish to have your opinion of the practi- 
cability of crossing the Santee with a party of three or 
four hundred horse, and whether they would be much 
exposed by being in the rear of the enemy ; also 
whether the party could not make good their retreat 
if it should be necessary, and join our people towards 
Ninety Six. If the thing is practicable, can your people 
be engaged to perform the service ? " ^ But in a letter 
of the 3d of February, he wrote to Sumter from North 
Carolina: "J agree with you in opinion that if proper 
measures are taken, the enemy may be made apprehensive 
of their rear. For this purpose I have desired General 
Marion to cross the Santee if possible, and in order to 
pave the way for this service I desired Lieutenant-Colonel 
Lee to surprise Georgetown, that the militia be left more 
at liberty to cross the river." ^ This rather implies that 

1 James's Life of Marion, Appendix, 16. 
* Johnson's Life of (Greene, vol. I, 361. 

8 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 362 ; Sumter MSS., Tear Book, City 
of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 80. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 99 

the suggestion was Sumter's. It certainly indicates that 
it was as much Sumter's scheme as his own. The order 
was extended by General Huger. On the 28th of January 
this officer, before marching to join Greene, wrote to 
Marion : " General Greene wishes that you will attempt 
to cross the Santee, and if possible reach some of the 
enemy's magazines, and destroy them. I am persuaded 
you will not leave any practicable measure unattempted 
to effect this business. The execution is left entirely 
to your judgment and address." ^ But whether this move 
was first suggested by Greene or Sumter, the order 
for it had been anticipated by the action of Marion him- 
self. Marion, who was then at Cordes's plantation one 
hundred miles distant, on the 29th,2 that is, a day at 
least before the letter could possibly have reached him, 
ordered Captain John Postell to cross the Santee with 
twenty-five men, and make a forced march to Wadboo 
bridge, which crosses a prong of the western branch of 
Cooper River, known as the Fair Forest Swamp, about 
twenty-five miles from Charlestown, and there to burn all 
the stores of every kind. " It is possible," Marion wrote 
to Postell, " you will find a small guard there, which you 

1 James's Life of Marion, Appendix, 20. 

^ James's Life of Marion, 20, Appendix, 91. Marion appears at this 
time to have had what were called three regiments. Of these Peter 
Horry was colonel of one, with William Benison as major, and John 
Baxter, John Postell, Daniel Conyers, and James McCauley, captains. 
Adam McDonald was colonel of another, but then being a prisoner, the 
regiment was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Horry. A third 
regiment was commanded by Colonel John Ervin, who resigned and was 
succeeded by Captain John Baxter. Captain William McCottry com- 
manded a company of riflemen, but whether attached to one of these 
regiments or as an independent command does not appear. The following 
list of other of Marion's officers is compiled from those mentioned from 
time to time in James's Life of Marion : Colonels James Postell, William 
Harden, and Hezekiah Maham, Majors John James and Alexander 



L.ofC. 



100 HISTOllY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

may surprise, but bring no prisoners with you. You will 
. . . return the same way, and recross the river at the 
same place, which must be done before daylight the next 
morning. After effecting my purpose at VVadboo it will 
not be out of your way to come by Monck's Corner, and 
destroy any stores or wagons you may find there." ^ This 
order gave Captain Postell but twenty -five men, but it 
appears that he took thirty-eight with him. Colonel 
James Postell was at the same time despatched with about 
an equal number. Colonel Postell burnt a great quantity 
of valuable stores at Manigault's Ferry, and Captain Postell 
a great many more in its vicinity. Thence the latter 
posted to Keithfield, near Monck's Corner, and burnt 
fourteen wagons loaded with soldier's clothing, baggage, 
and other valuable stores, and took prisoner about forty 
British regulars, without losing a man. The taking of 
these prisoners, though against Marion's orders, appears 
to have been approved, for General Greene extends to 
the Postells his particular thanks for the spirit and 
address with which they had executed Marion's orders 
over the Santee. To the Postells it was said nothing 
appeared difficult."-^ 

As the navigation of the Wateree did not permit the 
transportation of supplies, the British were obliged to have 
their stores of rum, salt, ammunition, and clothing sent 
overland across from Nelson's Ferry to Camden. Marion 
had in the last summer shown that Nelson's Ferry was not 
beyond his reach, and the Postells, under his orders, had now 

Swinton, Captains John T. Greene, Thomas Waties, Gavin Witherspoon, 

Thomas Potts, Irby, John Simons (killed at Quimby), William All- 

ston, Samuel Cooper, William Capers, G. Sinclair Capers, John Futhey, 

Bennett, William Clay Snipes, John Carraway Smith, Lieutenant 

Sinizer. 

1 James's Life of Marion, Appendix, 20. 

2 j!7)i(i.^ 91^ Appendix, 20. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 101 

reached Monck's Corner. So that the transportation of 
stores was now threatened along the wliole road from the 
Cooper to the Santee, and to the Watcree. To protect 
the route the British had established a line of posts. The 
fhst of these was at Biggin's Bridge over the Cooper, jast 
above Monck's Corner; the next at Nelson's Ferry; then 
one at Wright's Bluff, on Scott's Lake, about ten miles 
above Nelson's Ferry; another at Thomson's plantation, 
on the Congaree, protecting the roads to Mc Cord's and to 
Granby on the Congaree ; and still another at the latter 
place, which was also known as Fridig's or Friday's Ferry. 
These lines of posts thus protected the road either to Cam- 
den or Ninety Six. Besides the additional security thus 
afforded, the supplies were always attended by escorts, which, 
since the enterprises of the two Postells, seldom consisted 
of less than three hundred or four hundred men. But not 
even with these precautions were these lines secure. 

About the middle of February Major McLeroth,^ of the 
Sixty-fourth Regiment of the British army, was marching 
from Nelson's Ferry at the head of one of these escorts, 
when Marion, with about an equal number of mounted 
men, assailed him near Halfway Swamp, eighteen or 
twenty miles from Nelson's Ferry, in what is now Clar- 
endon County. Marion at first cut off in succession two 
pickets in McLeroth's rear, then, wheeling round his main 
body, attacked him in flank and front. As McLeroth had 
no cavalry, his situation became perilous in the extreme ; 
but by a rapid march, with constant skirmishing, he gained 
a field upon the road about a mile and a half from the 
swamp, which was open, but enclosed with a fence. Here 
he posted himself on the west of the road within the en- 

1 In his Life of Marion James spells the name of this officer, Mcllwrath 
(p. 91) ; we follow the spelling found in Tarleton's Campaigns., p. 153, 
and in the Army List, Almanac, 1780. 



102 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLLNA 

closure. On the east, skirting the road, there was a large 
cypress swamp stretching towards Halfway Swamp, on tlie 
verge of wliich Marion took position. 

In this situation of the parties a most curious and ro- 
mantic incident took place. Major McLeroth sent a flag 
to Marion, reproaching him with shooting his pickets con- 
trary, as he alleged, to all the laws of civilized warfare, and 
defying him to combat in the open field. Marion replied 
that the practice of the British in burning the houses of all 
who would not submit and join them was more indefensi- 
ble than that of shooting pickets, and that as long as they 
persisted in the one he would persevere in the other. 
That as to his defiance, he considered it that of a man in 
desperate circumstances ; but if he wished to witness a 
combat between twenty picked men on each side he was 
ready to gratify him. Strange to say, this extraordinary 
proposition of Marion was accepted by McLeroth,^ and a 
place for the combat, near an oak tree which stood for 
many years afterwards, agreed upon. Accordingly Mar- 
ion appointed INIajor John Vanderhorst, then a supernu- 
merary officer, to take command of this band, and Captain 
Samuel Price to be second in command. The names of 
the men were written on slips of paper and presented to \ 
them individually^ The first chosen was Gavin Wither- 
spoon, who promptly accepted, and no one else who was| 
chosen refused. Major Vanderhorst formed his party in 

1 The character of Major McLeroth, says James, has been constantly 
represented by the inhabitants of this State among whom he passed as the 
most humane of all the officers of the British army. To those in their 
power even foi-bearance was at that time a virtue, but his virtues were 
active. It has been currently reported, adds James, that he carried his 
dislike of house-burning so far that he neglected to carry into effect the 
orders of his Commander-in-chief on that point to such an extent as to 
gain his ill will and that of many other British officers. James's Life of 
Marion, 97-98. 



IN THE REVOLUTiOK 103 

single file and proceeded with tliera to the fence, where 
they were addressed by Marion. " My brave soldiers," he 
said, "you are twenty men picked this day out of my 
whole brigade. I know you all and have often witnessed 
your bravery. In the name of your country I call upon 
you once more to show it. My confidence in you is great, 
and I am sure it will not be disappointed. Fight like men, 
as you have always done, and you are sure of victory." 
This short speech, we are told, was received with applause, 
and the party under Vanderhorst advanced towards the 
oak. The British party had also formed in like order in 
front of the tree. But just as they were about to engage, 
an officer was seen to advance swiftly towards the oak, 
when the British shouldered their muskets and retreated 
with quick steps towards the main body. Vanderhorst 
and his men gave three huzzas, but did not fire. James, 
who relates this story, observes that thus a British officer 
was met on his own boasted ground and proved recreant ; 
but it is more probable that McLeroth, finding himself at 
such disadvantage with Marion's mounted men, skilfully 
availed himself of the opportunity for delay, and accepted 
the challenge without any intention of meeting it, but 
merely in order to gain time.^ 

The next morning, McLeroth abandoned his heavy 
baggage, left his fires burning, and retired silently from 
the ground, along the river road, towards Singleton's Mill, 
distant ten miles. Near day Marion discovered his move- 

1 Sir Walter Scott's novel, Tlie Fair Maid of Perth., it will be remem- 
bered, is based upon the story of two powerful clans having deputed each 
twenty champions to fight out a quarrel of old standing in the presence of 
King Robert III, his brother the Duke of Albany, and the whole court of 
Scotland at Perth in the year of grace 1390. Sir Walter Scott's story 
had not yet been published, but Major McLeroth, a Scotchman, as his 
name suggests, was probably familiar with this legend, and availing him- 
self of it accepted Marion's proposition to amuse him while he arranged 
for his tscape. 



104 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

raent, and detached Colonel Hugh Horry, with one hun- 
dred men, to intercept him before he could reach the mill. 
The colonel made all possible speed, but, finding he could 
not overtake McLeroth with his whole party, despatched 
a party, under Major James, on the swiftest horses, to 
cross the mill pond above, and take possession of Single- 
ton's houses, which stood on a high hill commanding a 
narrow defile, on the road between the hill and the 
Wateree swamp. Major James leached the houses as the 
British advanced to the foot of the hill, but found Single- 
ton's family down with the small-pox. This disease was 
more dreaded than the enemy. James therefore contented 
himself with giving them a fire, by which a British captain 
was killed, and then retired. As McLeroth was now in a 
strong position, Marion pursued him no farther.^ 

Marion, in this movement, had been operating from his 
fastness at Snow Island, keeping open his communication 
with that retreat. Sumter, now partially recovered from 
his wound but still greatly suffering, took the field for 
bolder enterprises. 

On the 30th of January, General Greene writes to 
Sumter from Sherard's Ferry, on the Catawba, in North 
Carolina : " I have the pleasure to hear, by General 
Morgan, that you are almost well enough to take the 
field. Nothing will afford me greater satisfaction than to 
see you at the head of the militia again ; and I can assure 
you I shall take a pleasure in giving j^ou every opportunity 
to exercise that talent of enterprise which has already 
rendered you the terror of your enemies and the idol of 
your friends." ^ Again, on the 3d of February, he writes, 
endeavoring to allay Sumter's jealousy of Morgan, assur- 
ing him that, when he shall be able to take the field and 

1 James's Life of Marion, 94-97. 

2 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 79. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 105 

embody his militia, lie shall have the command of the 
whole, whether employed in South Carolina or with the 
Continentals.^ General Greene appears to have wished 
Sumter to operate in the rear of the British army under 
Cornwallis. He gave, however, no specific directions to 
him to do so. On the 9th of February he writes to Sumter, 
acknowledging the receipt of a letter from him of the Tth,^ 
in which it appears that Sumter had reported himself in 
the field, and saying : — 

" There are few or no militia with us, nor ai'e there many in the 
enemy's rear. I heard by several people that you were with the 
latter, which gave me great pleasure ; but I find I was misinformed. 
Before I heard of your being out I had sent General Pickens to take 
the command in the rear. His character and influence I hope will 
be iiseful." ^ 

But Sumter had other plans. General Greene had 
scarcely exaggerated Sumter's influence when he wrote 
that he was the terror of his enemies and the idol of his 
friends, for Cornwallis himself, in a letter to Tarleton, 
declared, "Sumter's corps has been our greatest plague 
in this State." * At his call only would the heroes of 
Hanging Rock, King's Mountain, and Blackstock come 
out. Lacey, Taylor, and his other leaders now at once 
joined him. Collecting his whole force in his old camping 
ground, the Waxhaws, he marched for Fort Granby on the 
Congaree, where he arrived on the 19th of February. This 
was a stockade work on the west side of the Congaree, three 
miles below the junction of the Broad and the Saluda rivers, 
and a half mile below the present city of Columbia on the 
opposite bank. It was defended by about three hundred 

1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 79. 

2 This letter is not foimd in the Nightingale collection. 

3 Sumter MSS. , Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 82. 
* Tarletou's Campaigns, 203. 



i06 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

men, under the command of Major Maxwell. The same 
ruse de guerre which had twice before been successfully 
used was again resorted to, — Quaker guns of logs and 
tobacco hogsheads were mounted and trained upon the 
works, but this time without effect.^ An attack was 
made, and kept up for two days ; and as all supplies were 
cut off, the place must have been taken had not Lord 
Rawdon appeared on the opposite bank of the river early 
on the third day. His lordship's arrival was not unex- 
pected. On the 20th, Sumter writes to Marion : — 

" Hurry of business obliges me to be laconic. I arrived at this 
place yesterday nioruiug about four o'clock. Shortly after attacked 
the fort, with which I have been ever since engaged. Everything 
hitherto favorable, and have no doubt but I shall succeed if not 
interrupted by Lord Rawdon, who, I know, will strip his post as bare 
of men as possible to spare ; to obviate which, as far as possible, may 
be in your power, it is my wish that you would be pleased to move 
in sucli a direction as to attract his attention and thereby prevent his 
designs. Timely assistance in this way portends much good to this 
State. ... If you can with propriety advance soutliwardly so as 
to cooperate or correspond with me it might have the best of con- 
sequences." "^ 

Marion did not, however, receive this letter in time, 
and Lord Rawdon, having learned of Sumter's bold move, 
had, as Sumter had anticipated, marched at once from 
Camden with all his force ; but his appearance did not 
induce Sumter to abandon the enterprise until he had de- 
stroyed the British magazines and supplies. This having 
been accomplished on the third day (21st of Februar}^), 
in the presence of Lord Rawdon's party, he moved away 
that niglit.^ There is no statement of the casualties on 
either side in this affair. 

1 Sumter MSS. 

2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-8.3), 23. 

8 Ramsay's Bevolvtion in So. Ca., vol. II, 226 ; Moultrie's Memoirs, 
vol. II, 273. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 107 

Rawdon had supposed that Sumter, upon his approach, 
would have retreated up the west bank of the Congaree, 
and so on towards the upper part of the State, and accord- 
ingly he had seized all the passes above. But in this 
supposition he was mistaken. Sumter had still other 
designs. Raising the siege of Granby, he marched with 
the utmost celerity in the opposite direction, and arrived 
the next morning, the 22d of February, before the British 
post at Colonel Thomson's plantation, thirty-five miles 
from Granby. This post was near the site of Fort Motte, in 
what is now Orangeburg County. It was a stockade which 
was formed around Colonel Thomson's house, the outhouses 
forming a part of the defences. The troops advanced 
through an open field, under a severe fire, and reached a 
part of the works. The enemy defended themselves with 
great bravery. The houses were set on fire by the Ameri- 
cans, but the defenders succeeded in extinguishing the 
flames and resisting every assault. The assault was given 
up in about half an hour, but the investment was contin- 
ued. Sumter was encamped at Manigault's Ferry, two 
miles below Thomson's, refreshing a part of his troops, 
while a strong detachment maintained the investment of 
the post. He had also sent out several smaller detachments 
for various purposes, so that he had with him not more than 
one hundred men. In this condition, early the next day, the 
23d, he received information of the approach of a consider- 
able body of troops, with a number of wagons. The enemy 
advanced so rapidly that he had only time to form for their 
reception on a well-chosen piece of ground half a mile 
below his encampment. The British, upwards of eighty in 
number, forming a compact line, advanced with a daring 
front, affecting a contempt for the troops formed to oppose 
them. The ground was open. Both parties seemed assured 
of victory. The contest was short and decisive. The Brit- 



I 



108 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ish were outflanked and defeated. They lost thirteen killed 
and sixty-six taken prisoners, and twenty wagons with 
clothing, supplies, and arms intended for Lord Rawdon's 
army. To secure a prize so seasonable to the wants of the 
captors became an object of the greatest importance. It 
happened that the Santee was overflowed and impassable 
for the wagons. But Sumter had collected and secured 
all the boats at Fort Granby, and also at Thomson's. On 
board these were placed the captured stores, under a deter- 
mined officer, who was ordered to fall down the river to a 
point where Sumter would meet him with the troops. These 
dispositions had not long been completed when, on the day 
following, the 24th, at about three o'clock. Lord Rawdon 
appeared, coming to the relief of the post at Thomson's. 
Sumter, informed of his approach, had all his parties called 
in and his troops formed in order of battle, expecting only 
to meet the light troops of his lordship, but when he saw 
his whole army was with him, he moved off leisurely in the 
presence of Rawdon, who did not attempt pursuit, and has- 
tened to meet his little flotilla at the point where he proposed 
crossing the river. The point selected for this purpose 
was some distance above Wright's Bluff, on the Santee, 
about ten miles above Nelson's Ferry, where the British 
had a post on the east side of the river commanding it. 
Unhappily the fatality which so often pursued Sumter's 
most brilliant movements again overtook him. By the 
treachery of the pilot, the boats were permitted to drop 
below the proposed point, within range of the guns of the 
British post, and the stores fell into the enemy's hands. 
The guard escaped and rejoined Sumter. Great as was 
the loss of the stores, that of the boats was still greater. 
Without them the passage of the river and the swamps on 
the low ground was extremely difficult. It was, however, 
determined on, and effected by the aid of such canoes as 



IN THE REVOLUTION 109 

could be collected, and the post at Wright's Bluff, known as 
Fort Watson, was attacked to regain the stores. To recover 
the ample supply of arms and clothing which had been 
captured and so treacherously lost to him, which would 
have relieved so many of the wants of his men, induced 
Sumter to hazard all on one effort. The attack was begun 
at twelve o'clock, on the 27th of February, by a direct 
assault. The post had been reenforced but a few hours 
before by the arrival of Colonel Watson with a detachment 
of four hundred provincial light infantry. The Americans 
were received with a tremendous fire, which they sustained 
for some time, but at length were obliged to give way, 
with considerable loss. The British accounts claimed that 
eighteen were killed, and some prisoners and many horses 
taken. 1 

Upon this repulse Sumter led his troops to a secure po- 
sition within five or six miles of the fort, where his wounded 
were attended to. Thence he moved to the High Hills of 
Santee and rested. In response to his letter of the 20th, 
Marion had, on the 26th, written to Sumter reporting his 
progress towards him ; but while at the camp on the High 
Hills of Santee^ Sumter received, on the 4th of March, 
another letter, dated the 2d, from which it appeared that 

1 The Boyal Gazette, March 3, 1781, 

2 " The High Hills of Santee are a long, irregular chain of sand hills on 
the left bank of the Wateree, near twenty miles north of its junction with 
the Cougaree, and some ninety miles northwesterly of Charleston. They 
are huge masses of sand and clay and gravel, rising two hundred feet 
above the river banks, twenty-four miles long, varying in breadth from 
five miles to one. Though directly above the noxious river, the air on 
them is healthy and the water pure, making an oasis in the wide tract of 
miasma and fever in which the army had been operating. Both officers 
and men felt the vigor retui-n as soon as they inhaled the pui-e breezes." 
— Greene's Life of Greene, vol. Ill, 3.35. These hills were from time to 
time in occupation of both armies, British and American. Upon them we 
shall see Greene in his Camp of Repose later on in the summer. 



110 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Marion was still far out of the way of meeting liim. Sum- 
ter was much disappointed, and wrote : ^ — • 

"I made no doubt but your route to me would be by the way of 
King's Tree or the Ferry, and after receiving yours of the 2Sth ultimo, 
informing me what the number of your men were, I found you to be 
very weak and the enemy near at hand in force. This determined 
me to move on to meet you, to concert measures for our further oper- 
ations, which is still absolutely necessary. I shall therefore remain at 
or near this place for that purpose, and beg that you may come this 
way with all possible speed ; if not convenient with all your men to 
facilitate an interview, please come with a few. My horses are so 
worn out that I can scarce move at all, and officers and men are quite 
discouraged, finding no force in these parts, not even men enough to 
join to guide me through the country. But notwithstanding little 
may be done now, yet much good might be expected to result here- 
after from a personal consultation, which I hope to have the favor of 
by to-morrow night," etc. 

But Marion did not conie. The British, indeed, were lay- 
ing meshes for his capture, and, no doubt, he was busy 
avoiding them. Still, it is strange that, within a day's jour- 
ney of Sumter, he does not appear to have made any re- 
sponse to the earnest appeal for a conference, or even to 
have communicated to Sumter his own difficulties. After 
waiting in vain for Marion a day or two, finding his men 
somewhat rested and refreshed, Sumter began a retreat 
from the High Hills of Santee to the Waxhaws by way 
of Black River, leaving Camden about twenty miles to 
the left. On the 6th of March, while on this march, he 
was intercepted by a considerable body of British troops 
under Major Fraser on Lynch's Creek, and a sharp con- 
flict ensued in which neither party gained a decided 
advantage. The British claimed a victory, but Sumter's 
retreat was not impeded, to effect which was the object 
of the British movement. By the enemy's account Sumter 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 27, 28. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 111 

lost ten killed and about fifty wounded.^ Ramsay claims 
that the British lost twenty killed and were obliged to 
retreat. 2 

General Sumter having fallen back to the Waxhaws, 
Lord Ilawdon now determined upon a concerted move 
to crush Marion. For this purjjose Colonel Watson, with 
his own regiment and Harrison's regiment of Tories,^ 
amounting in the whole to more than five hundred men, 
was ordered to march from Nelson's Ferry (Fort Watson) 
down the Santee towards Snow Island; and soon after 

1 The Boyal Gazette, March 14, 1781. 

2 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 226. So engrossed have 
historians and romancers been with Marion's brilliant performances that 
they have been oblivious to Sumter's. Thus we find one of our own 
historians stating that, " during the absence of Greene from South 
Carolina, Marion was the only force in active operation against the 
British." (Simms's Life of Marion, 205), Sumter's equally brilliant 
operations at this time are entirely ignored. Judge Johnson, in his Life 
of Greene, speaks of Sumter's force as " a body of about two hundred and 
fifty North Carolinians " (vol. II, 31), but this is a mistake. The account 
of these operations here given is taken from the Sumter manuscript which 
states that " when Sumter had nearly recovered from his wound, finding 
that Lord Cornwallis had left the State of South Carolina, he collected his 
whole force in the Waxhaws and marched for the lower country." His 
force was certainly composed of South Carolina volunteers, and not 
North Carolina militia. In the Life of Edward Lacey it is stated : "Early 
in February, 1781, General Sumter had so far recovered from his wounds 
as to take the field again. When he ordered out the militia of his part of 
the State Colonel Lacey immediately joined him with his regiment and 
was with him at the assault on Friday's Ferry i.e. Granby the 19th 
February, 1781." — Moore's Life of Lacey, 24. 

3 This corps was organized under the authority of Colonel Tarleton 
(Tarleton's Campaigns, 117). Lord Cornwallis speaks of it as " Harrison's 
new varied Legion, cavalry and infantry " ( Clinton-CornwalUs Controversy, 
vol. I, 238), "but it was not a success" (ibid., 260). It was organized at 
first from the Tories on Lynch's Creek in the neighborhood of McCallam's 
Ferry (Gregg's Old Cheraws, 308). Of the character of Harrison and his 
brother we have already spoken {Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevolution, 
1775-80 [McCrady], 642, 650). 



112 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Colonel Doyle ^ with the Volunteers of Ireland was directed 
to proceed from the neighborhood of Camden, crossing to 
the east of Lynch's Creek at McCallam's Ferry into what 
is now Darlington County, and moving down Jeffers's 
Creek to the Pee Dee, was to form a junction with Watson. 
This joint expedition was begun about the 1st of March. 

1 Lieutenant colonel of Lord Rawdon's American regiment, " The 
Volunteers of Ireland," recruited in Philadelphia, afterwards General Sir 
John Doyle, G.C.B. andK.C, created a baronet October 29, 1805. See 
an account of this olEcer by his nephew. Sir Francis Hastings Doyle, in 
his Beminiscences, etc., Appleton, 1887, 365-3G9, in which this interesting 
story of the times we are now treating is quoted from a speech of Sir 
John while a member of Parliament, in support of an establishment in 
Ireland for the relief of worn-out and disabled soldiers. "Another 
brilliant example of devotion to duty flashes across my mind. When Lord 
Rawdon was in South Carolina he had to send an express of great 
importance through a country filled with the enemy's troops. A corporal 
of the Seventeenth Di'agoons known for his courage and intelligence was 
selected to escort it. They had not proceeded far when they were fired 
upon, the express killed, and the corporal wounded in the side; careless 
of his wound, but he thought of his duty ; he snatched the despatch from 
the dying man and rode on imtil from the loss of blood he fell, when, 
fearing the despatch would be taken by the enemy, he thrust it into his 
woimd until the wound closed upon it, and concealed it. He was fouiad 
the next day by a British patrol, with a smile of honorable pride upon his 
countenance, and with life just sufficient to point to the fatal depository 
of his secret. In searching the body was found the cause of his death, 
for the surgeon declared the wound itself was not mortal, but was ren- 
dered so by the irritation of the paper. Thus fell," exclaimed Sir John, 
" this patriot soldier; in rank, a corporal, he was in mind a hero. His 
name was O'Leary, from the parish of Moria in County Down. Whilst 
memory holds her seat, the devotion of this generous victim to his own 
sense of duty will be present to my mind. I would not for worlds have 
lost his name. How much would it have lived in Greek or Roman story ! 
Not the Spartan hero of Thermopylte, not the Roman Curtius, in their 
self-devotion went beyond him. Leonidas fought in tlie presence of a 
grateful country, he was in a strange land unseen. Curtius had all Rome 
for his spectators, O'Leary gave himself to death alone in a desert. He 
adopted the sentiment without knowing the language, and chose for his 
epitaph, Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." 



IN THE REVOLUTION 113 

Marion's scouts informing him of Watson's movement, 
that gallant and intrepid leader did not wait for the attack, 
but himself at once assumed the offensive. Leaving Colonel 
Erwin in command of the camp at Snow Island, by one of 
his rapid movements, on IMarch 6th Marion met Watson 
at Wiboo Swamp, about midway between Nelson's and 
Murray's ferries, in what is now Clarendon County. Hav- 
ing but little ammunition, not more than twenty rounds to 
each man, Marion resorted to strategy, and here he laid 
his first ambuscade. Colonel Peter Horry was placed in 
advance, while he with the cavalry and remainder of his 
brigade, amounting to about four hundred men, lay in 
reserve. Horry made considerable impression upon the 
Tories in advance, but Watson with two field-pieces at 
the head of his regulars dislodged Horry's men from the 
swamp, whereupon the Tory cavalry, under Major Harri- 
son, pursued. This had been anticipated, and Captain 
Conyers with a party of cavalry had been placed in a con- 
cealed position to meet it. As the British and Tories 
came up, Conyers dashed in among them, killing with his 
own hand the officer who led them, and with that Captain 
McCauley, upon Marion's order, charged and dispersed the 
enemy. In this action Gavin James, a private in Marion's 
ranks, of gigantic size, greatly distinguished himself, hold- 
ing a causeway single-handed against a strong party of the 
enemy.i 

While these movements were being made by Sumter 
and Marion on the Congaree and Pee Dee, a spirited affair 
had taken place on the Saluda, in what is now Newberry 

1 James's Life of Marion, 98, 99. The officer killed by Conyers, James 
says was said to have been one of the two Harrisons mentioned in a 
previous volume {Hist, of So. Ca. in the Revohition [McCrady], G42). 
And this supposition appears to have been correct (Gregg's Hist, of the 
Old Cheraws, 308). 

VOL. IV. I 



114 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

County. The battle of Mud Lick, as it was called, was 
fought on the 2d of March. A garrison of British sol- 
diers and Tories stationed at Williams's F'ort, annojnng 
the people in that neighborhood, Colonel Benjamin Roe- 
buck^ and Colonel Henry White determined to break up 
the nest of plunderers. This they proceeded to do with a 
party of about one hundred and fifty men, and by a strata- 
gem induced the enemy to abandon the fort and come out 
to attack them. A party of mounted men showed them- 
selves before tlie fort and retreated. Upon this the enemy 
came out and began a hot pursuit, confident of an easy 
victory. The mounted Whigs fell back before the advanc- 
ing foe until they had drawn them within easy range of 
riflemen concealed in ambush. At the proper moment 
Colonel White fired a shot, killing one of the foremost 
British officers. The battle soon became general, and con- 
tinued for an hour with alternate advantages, ultimately 
resulting in the total rout of the British and Tories. The 
Whigs did not lose many, but among the killed was 
Captain Robert Thomas, an officer much beloved and 
lamented. Both Colonel Roebuck and Colonel White 
were wounded. ^ 

After the affair at Wiboo Swamp, Watson rested a day 
or two at Cantey's plantation in what is now Clarendon, and 
then continued his march down the Santee, which Marion 

1 Benjamin Eoebuck was born in Orange County, Virginia, about 1755. 
His father settled in what is now Spartanburg County in 1777, and the 
next year young Roebuclc served as lieutenant in Georgia, and was at Stono 
and Savannah. In 1780 he joined Sumter and was at Hanging Rock, 
Musgrove's Mills, and, as we have seen, at King's Mountain, distinguished 
himself at Cowpens, where he had a horse shot under him. He was now 
badly wounded, and made prisoner, was incarcerated at Ninety Six, where 
he remained during the siege, was subsequently taken to Charlestown, and 
placed on a prison ship until exchanged in August, 1781. 

2 Johnson's Traditions, 423-424 ; Eiiig^s Mountain and its Heroes, 470, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 115 

opposed by destroying bridges and harassing him at every 
step. At Mount Hope, in what is now Williamsburg County, 
Watson found the bridge destroyed, and had to sustain 
a second conflict with Marion's rear guard under Horry. 
But with the aid of his field -pieces and by the strength of 
his column he was enabled to make good his way. Near 
Murray's Ferry, Watson passed the Kingstree road to his 
left, and when he came to the Black River road which 
crosses at the lower bridge, he made a feint of still continu- 
ing down the Santee ; but soon after turning, took that road 
on which the lower bridge was, distant twelve miles. 
Marion had not been deceived. He had detached Major 
James at the head of seventy men, thirty of whom were 
riflemen under McCottry, to destroy the remnant of the 
bridge which had been partially broken up, and to take 
post there while he kept watch on Watson. Major James 
reached the bridge by a nearer route, crossed it, threw off 
the planks, fired the string-pieces at the northeastern end, 
and posted his riflemen so as to command the ford and all 
the approaches on the other side. Marion soon after 
arrived with the rest of his men, and disposed them in the 
rear so as to support James's party. Watson now appeared 
on the plain beyond and opened with his field-pieces, which 
had been so effective at Wiboo and Mount Hope, but, for- 
tunately for ]\Iarion, the topography of the ground here 
rendered them comparatively useless. Owing to the ele- 
vation on the southwestern side of the river, the effect of 
the artillery was but to cut off the tops and limbs of the 
trees above the heads of Marion's men. To remedy this 
Watson brought up his guns to the brow of the hill, so as, 
by depressing them there, to reach the riflemen on the low 
ground on the opposite side ; but these picked off the can- 
noneers with their rifles before they could bring their 
pieces to bear. An attempt was then made to carry the 



116 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ford by direct attack. Watson drew up his columns in 
the old field over the river, and his advance was now seen 
approaching the ford with an officer at its head waving his 
sword. McCottry fired the signal gun, the officer clapped 
his hand to his breast, and fell to the ground. The rifle- 
men and musketeers next poured in a well-directed and 
deadly fire, and the British advance fled in disorder, nor 
did the reserve move forward to its support. Four men 
returned to bear off their fallen leader, but all four shared 
his fate. In the evening Watson succeeded in removing 
his dead and wounded, and took position at John Wither- 
spoon's, a mile above the bridge. General Marion then 
took position on a ridge below the ford of the river, which 
was afterwards called General's Island. The next day he 
pushed McCottry and Conyers over the river to annoy the 
British pickets and sentinels. Thereupon Watson moved 
farther up and established his camp at Blakeley's planta- 
tion. There he remained about ten days, during which, 
though he was posted on an open field, Marion's riflemen 
kept his regulars in constant dread and almost panic. 
While Blakeley's and Witherspoon's provisions lasted 
Watson was able to maintain himself here in comparative 
safety, notwithstanding the apprehensions caused by 
Marion's marksmen ; but when these failed it became 
necessary to send out foraging parties, and this brought 
on daily skirmishes. In these affairs Captain Conyers 
greatly distinguished himself, his name becoming almost 
as great a dread to the British as Tarleton's had been to 
the Americans. An incident which is said to have in- 
creased the panic of the British was the shooting, at three 
hundred yards distant, of an officer, Lieutenant Torri- 
ano, by McDonald, the same who had been among the 
prisoners rescued by Marion at Nelson's Ferry the year 
before, and who had remained with him. For the removal 



IN THE IIEVOLUTION 117 

of this officer and some other of his wounded men Watson 
applied for a pass to Charlestovvn, which Marion granted. 
Colonel Watson was now literally besieged. His supplies 
were cut off on all sides, and so many of his men killed 
that he is said by tradition to have sunk them in Black 
River to hide their number. 

Watson at length abandoned the field, making a forced 
march down the Georgetown road, but paused at Ox Swamp, 
six miles below the lower bridge, for on each side of the 
road through it there was a thick boggy swamp, and Marion 
had trees felled across the causeway, and the bridges, of 
which there were three, destroyed. There was, moreover, 
a still more difficult pass at Johnson's, ten miles farther on. 
Watson, therefore, turned to the right and crossed through 
the open piney woods to the Santee road, distant about 
fifteen miles. Marion pressed on after him, sending 
Colonel Peter Horry in advance with the cavalry and 
riflemen. Watson was thus pressed and annoyed along 
his whole route until they reached Sampit bridge, nine 
miles from Georgetown, where the last skirmish took 
place. Here Marion received news of Doyle's movements, 
which arrested his progress and summoned him to meet 
new perils. Watson reached Georgetown with two wagon- 
loads of wounded men.i An intercepted letter, dated 
March,2 without the day of the month, but which James 
gives as of the 20th, shows that he had been hemmed in 
so closely that he was in want of everything, and had 
taken this route to Georgetown, fifty miles out of his way, 
to obtain supplies. From the fort at Wright's Bluff Wat- 
son had not advanced more than forty miles on his way to 
join Doyle in an attack upon Snow Island. The loss of 
the British during these movements was great, but the 

1 Jatnfes'a Life of Marion, 99-104. 

2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 1781-82, 47. 



118 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

exact number is unknown. Marion is said to have lost 
but one man. 

In the meanwhile, Colonel Doyle, in pursuance of the 
plan of their joint operations, after crossing Lynch's Creek 
at McCallam's Ferry, had moved down on the east of that 
river towards Snow Island, which, it will be recollected, 
had been left with a small guard under Colonel Erwin. 
This officer, after a short engagement in which he lost 
seven killed and fifteen prisoners,^ retreated; but before 
doing so he had the supplies there of army stores and 
ammunition thrown into Lynch's Creek. This, at this 
crisis, was a most serious loss. 

From Sampit Marion marched back towards Snow Island. 
On the way, receiving intelligence that Doyle lay at With- 
erspoon's Ferry, across Lynch's Creek, he proceeded forth- 
with to attack him. Doyle had taken a position on the 
north or Georgetown side of the ferry, and when McCottry 
in advance with his mounted riflemen arrived at the creek, 
the British were scuttling a ferry-boat on the opposite side. 
From a position behind the trees, he gave them a well- 
directed fire, under which a British officer and sergeant 
were wounded. ^ They ran to their arms, and returned 
the fire with a heavy volley, which, however, inflicted no 
loss upon the Americans. Doyle then retired. The ferry- 
boat being scuttled, and Lynch's Creek swollen, and at this 
place wide and deep, Marion moved up its course until he 
reached a more practicable place for crossing, five miles 
above the ferry, there he swam the river and pursued 
Doyle. He continued the pursuit for two days, when, 
coming up to a house at which Doyle had destroyed all 
his heavy baggage, and learning that he had proceeded 
with great celerity towards Camden, he halted. 

Marion now learned of the loss of his ammunition and 
1 The Boxjal Gazette, April 4, 1781. « Ibid. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 119 

stores at Snow Island. It was a great blow to him, and 
under present circumstances appeared irretrievable ; but 
his spirit was still unbroken. In the meantime, Colonel 
Watson, having refreshed and reenforced his party, and 
received a fresh supply of military stores and provisions 
at Georgetown, turned again towards the Pee Dee, and 
marched to Catfish Creek, a mile from where the town of 
Marion now stands. Here Gainey's party ^ had flocked in 
to him in such numbers that he was soon said to be nine 
hundred strong. Returning from the pursuit of Doyle, 
and hearing of the approach of Watson, Marion crossed 
the Pee Dee at the Wrahees, five miles from him. His 
own force was now increased to five hundred men, but he 
had no more than two rounds of ammunition to each man. 
It was proposed, therefore, to retreat into North Carolina, 
or, if necessary, to the mountains, and Colonels Peter 
Horry, Hugh Horry, James Postell, and John Erwin, 
Majors John James, John Baxter, and Alexander Swinton, 
had agreed to go with him, when the news was received 
of the approach of Colonel Lee, the advance of General 
Greene, upon his return to South Carolina. The circum- 
stances which led to this event must be reserved to 
another chapter. 

1 Major Micajah Gainey, son of an Englishman, Stephen Gainey, who 
had settled at an early period on a spot six miles below the present town of 
Marion. He had a respectable property and at first took sides with the 
Revolutionary party, but considering himself aggrieved, he went over to 
the enemy, and was rewarded with a commission of major and put in com- 
mand of the Tories of his neighborhood. He became a person of con- 
siderable influence on the Tory side in that section. 



CHAPTER V 

1781 

General Greene, as it has appeared, was anxious to 
bring out and organize the militia to operate in the rear 
of Cornwallis during his invasion of North Carolina, and 
for this purpose he had called upon the Whigs of Meck- 
lenburg. Unhappily General Davidson, the gallant com- 
mander of the militia of North Carolina, had already 
fallen while resisting the crossing of the Catawba at 
Cowan's Ford by the British ; and the office to which 
Colonel Davie had been assigned having withdrawn him 
from the field, the Whigs in this neighborhood were left 
without either leader under whom they had formerly 
acted, and none other appeared sufficiently popular to in- 
spirit and conduct them to further enterprise. The}!' there- 
fore held a meeting and requested General Greene to 
assign Morgan to their command ; but Morgan had become 
dissatisfied, and, suffering also from a serious indisposition, 
declined the command and retired from the field. Greene, 
it also appears, was in hope that when Sumter came out he 
would undertake this duty, but, as has been seen, he had 
moved in another direction. General Greene now turned 
to Pickens, who, as soon as he was relieved of the charge 
of the Cowpens prisoners, had rejoined his commander at 
Salisbury. His followers were now reduced to a handful, 
for the retreat of the army had called most of them away 
to provide for the subsistence and safety of their families. 
The Whigs of North Carolina were advised to place them- 

120 



IN THE REVOLUTION 121 

selves under the command of Pickens, who had now been 
made brigadier general by Governor Rutledge and he was 
instructed to hang upon the skirts of the enemy, watch 
the movements of his small detachments, guard particu- 
larly against surprise, and as soon as an opportunity af- 
forded, to pass Lord Cornwallis and join Greene's army at 
Guilford or wherever else he should make a stand. Gen- 
eral Huger, who on his march from the Cheraws had 
been overtaken by Colonel Lee from the lower Pee Dee, 
formed a junction with General Greene and Morgan's com- 
mand at Guilford on the 7th of February. On the 10th 
of the month the two armies lay within twenty-five miles 
of each other, the one at Salem, the other at Guilford. 
From Guilford Greene retreated to the lower Dan and 
crossed into Virginia, while Cornwallis marched to Hills- 
boro. The armies were in these positions when Greene 
resolved, on the morning of the 22d, to strike a blow at one 
of the British posts at Hart's Mill, two and a half miles 
from Hillsboro. Captain Eggleston of the Legionary 
corps was accordingly despatched for the purpose, and 
with boldness and precaution approached the position of 
the picket, but found himself anticipated and the whole 
picket already killed or in possession of an American 
party. 

This service, says Johnson, was performed by Colo- 
nel McCall detached for the purpose by General Pickens.^ 
The necessities of their families, as we have said, had 
obliged one-half of Pickens's command to return to their 
homes ; but the gallant little band of South Carolinians 
under McCall still adhered to him, and by the accession of 
volunteers from Virginia and North Carolina their num- 
bers were increased to 360 rank and file, consisting of Mc- 

1 Johnson speaks of this officer as Hugh McCall ; but there is evidently 
a mistake. It was James McCall. 



122 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLLNA 

Call's party of horse, about 45 in number, and the rest 
well-mounted riflemen. With this party Pickens ad- 
vanced upon Cornwallis by the direct road from Guilford 
to Hillsboro, and without knowing of his near approach to 
the party under Lee, although apprized of their being on 
the same service, had anticipated him in the enterprise 
against the British picket.^ Schenck charges that John- 
son falls into an error in ascribing this coup de main to 
McCall of South Carolina, and asserts that it was really 
performed by Captain Graham of North Carolina, that 
McCall was in fact ten miles distant from the scene.^ But 
the evidence of Pickens and Greene is decisive upon the 
point. Greene writes to Pickens on the 26th of February : 
" I have to acknowledge the receipt of your two letters of 
the 23d, wherein you acquaint me with the surprise of a 
British picket by Colonel McCall. . . . The affair of Colo- 
nel McCall was executed with firmness and address, and 
discovered a spirit of enterprise and genius which I shall 
be ever happy to cherish." ^ This contemporaneous testi- 
mony of the two commanding officers was certainly suffi- 
cient to warrant Johnson in crediting the affair to McCall. 
It is not at all impossible, however, that Captain Graham 
may have commanded the detachment which under 
McCall's orders actually made the attack and capture. 

On the night of the 21st, General Greene, attended by a 
small escort, had visited General Pickens's camp, and spent 
the greater part of the night in his bush tent in consultation 
with Pickens and Lee as to their future movements. Then, 
committing the combined detachments of Pickens and Lee 
to the command of the former, he exhorted the two com- 
manders to let nothing disturb their harmony — an admoni- 

* Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 450. 

2 No. Ca., nSO-81 (Schenck), 275. 

' See letter, Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. I, 457. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 123 

tion which was not violated by either of them during the 
war. The orders given to Pickens were to make every 
effort to prevent the embodying of the Loyalists and impede 
the progress of the British army should their commander 
attempt to retreat before the main army could advance to 
attack it. Pickens lost not a moment in performing the 
service committed to his charge. By the examination of 
prisoners taken by McCall, Greene became satisfied that 
Cornwallis had no intention of moving southwardly ; and 
having been joined by about a thousand militia from North 
Carolina and expecting a thousand more in a few days, 
Greene determined to prepare for a decisive blow by hasten- 
ing on his reenforcements, while he occupied with the main 
army a position favorable for covering the concentration and 
for cutting off the enemy's communication with the upper 
country. For this purpose he recrossed the Dan, and 
marched toward the head of Haw River on the route to 
Guilford in a westwardly direction. Pickens directing 
his march in a line nearly parallel to that of the 
main army, and about twenty miles distant from it, 
purposed to pass the Haw, and by secret and rapid move- 
ments to disperse several parties of Tories who were 
collecting. This route soon brought him upon the trail of 
Tarleton, and apprehensive of the safety of several parties 
of militia who were marching to join him, as they were 
without cavalry to oppose to Tarleton, Pickens, without 
hesitation, moved at once in his pursuit. Such was the ex- 
pedition with which he pressed the pursuit that at noon on 
the 25th he was near surprising the great cavalry leader when 
quietly at his dinner. Following Tarleton as he was, from 
the direction of Hillsboro, his party was taken for a reenforce- 
ment to that officer, a mistake the more easily made because 
of the similarity in the uniforms of Tarleton's and Lee's 
Legions. Never, declared Pickens, was there a more glorious 



124 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

opportunity of cutting off a detachment, when it was lost 
by a most singular circumstance — a circumstance, however, 
which brought about the utter destruction of a party of 
Tories instead. While pushing on in the pursuit of Tarle- 
ton, Pickens fell in with a body of two hundred or three 
hundred Tories under the command of a Colonel Pyles. The 
situation of Pickens was now embarrassing in the extreme, 
between Tarleton's Legion and this body of Tories. But for- 
tunately observing from the confident approach of a courier 
from the Tories, that they had also mistaken his command for 
a British party, he boldly resolved to pass without undeceiv- 
ing them, and to hasten to the attack of Tarleton,then within 
one mile encamped, without an apprehension of danger. 
Pyles, unfortunately for himself and his band, inspired with 
a loyal desire to pay due homage to his Majesty's troops, had 
drawn up his men on the right of the road very near to its 
margin. They were all mounted and their guns resting on 
their shoulders. So complete was the imposition that the 
dragoons which marched in file in front, their swords drawn, 
had reached the end of Pyles's line before a suspicion was ex- 
cited. The infantry of the Legion might also have passed, 
and probably the militia, for there was nothing to distinguish 
them from the troops with Tarleton; but, unfortunately, the 
Maryland companies under Lee had been too familiarly 
known in that neighborhood and their uniform had nothing 
like it in the British army. Their appearance exposed the 
deception, and the instantaneous discharge of a few guns 
in the rear brought the whole corps upon the unfortunate 
Loyalists. What followed was the result of a very few 
minutes. Those who did not sink under the first onset of 
the cavalry broke away in confusion, and many fell beneath 
a volley from tlie riflemen. Pickens made the most earnest 
efforts to suppress the firing, not only from the dictates of 
humanity, but from the fear of alarming the unsuspecting 



IN THE REVOLUTION 125 

Tarleton. But before his order could be enforced, the 
work had been done, one hundred had been left dead on the 
field, and very few escaped not grievously wounded. Pyles 
himself fell under many strokes of the sword, but survived, 
though dreadfully mutilated.^ So complete was the decep- 
tion that Tarleton relates that several of the wounded 
Loyalists entered the British camp and complained to 
Tarleton of the cruelty of his dragoons.^ This was the 
first explanation given him of the firing which had been 
heard in his camp. Night put an end to the slaughter, and 
Pickens, notwithstanding the darkness, proceeded at once 
to place himself between Tarleton and his own approaching 
reenforcements. Tarleton, with no suspicion that he was 
in the neighborhood of so superior an enemy, had actually 
drawn up his men at midnight to strike at Preston, who 
was in command of one of the parties for whose safety 
Pickens was so solicitous, when an express from Lord 
Cornwallis recalled him instantly to Hillsboro. His lord- 
ship had heard of the advance of the Americans, and had 
at once sent to warn Tarleton of his danger and to recall 
him to the main army. 

It is not within the scope of this history to follow the 
movements of the armies under Greene and Cornwallis, 
which culminated at Guilford Court-house, or to detail 
the events of that battle, in which South Carolina, save in 
the presence of General Isaac Huger, had no part. It is 
more immediately concerned in the history of the small 
party under Pickens. From the time this officer had 
joined General Morgan it has been seen that he had not 
rested a day. Some of the officers and men under him 
had been engaged in the most active service ever since the 
fall of Charlestown. The rest had abandoned their homes 
with Pickens himself, and had taken to the field wlien, in 
1 Johnson's Life of Oreene, vol. I, 454-455. ^ Tarleton's Camjniifjns, 232. 



126 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

violation of their paroles, they had been called upon to serve 
in the British army. They had received neither clothing 
nor pay, and came into the service mounted at their own 
expense. They were not of that class of men who can 
minister to their own by invading the comforts of others ; 
most, if not all, were men of respectable connections and 
comfortable property. But their condition now was 
scarcely to be borne ; they had not the clothing necessary 
to common decency. Yet no one deserted, no one mur- 
mured, but, foregoing the privileges of volunteers, they 
resisted the example of hundreds who daily came and went 
as they pleased, and never shrank from their duty in the 
midst of retreat, privation, and suffering. But Pickens 
could no longer forbear calling the attention of the com- 
manding general to their claims and suffering. In the 
neighborhood of their friends their tattered clothing might 
be replenished. No demand for discharge was hinted at. 
But besides their own increasing necessities, affairs in their 
own State were now demanding their return. In addition 
to the large British force retained in South Carolina, 
appearances on the frontier threatened a serious invasion 
from the Indians. Not only their own apprehensions, but 
those of General Greene himself, were seriously awakened 
for the fate of their families and connections ; and General 
Pickens was ordered to repair to the back parts of South 
Carolina to protect the Whigs, suppress the Loyalists, and 
cooperate with General Sumter in the active enterprises in 
which that indefatigable patriot was then engaged.^ 

While General Pickens was on his march to South Caro- 
lina, a party of the New York Volunteers under the com- 
mand of Captain Grey was detached by Lord Rawdon from 
Camden, to disperse a body of militia who were gathering 
on Dutchman Creek, in what is now Fairfield County. 
1 Johnson's Life of Grreene, vol. I, 469. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 127 

This the New York Volunteers succeeded in doing, killing 
two captains, sixteen privates, and taking eighteen pris- 
oners without the loss of a man on their part.^ 

General Pickens on his return to South Carolina was 
joined by Colonel Elijah Clarke, who had now recovered 
from his wounds received in the affair at Long Cane in 
December. As he was pursuing his march, Pickens re- 
ceived intelligence that Major Dunlap with seventy-five 
British dragoons had been detached from Ninety Six into 
the country on a foraging expedition. Pickens at once 
detached Clarke and McCall to attack him. On the 24th of 
March they came up with Dunlap, encamped at Beattie's 
Mill, on Little River, in what is now Abbeville County. A 
bridge over which Dunlap must pass in retreat was seized 
by a party detached for the purpose, and with the main 
body Clarke liimself advanced to the attack. Dunlap, sur- 
prised, retired into the mill and some outhouses, but these 
were too open for defence against riflemen. Recollecting, 
no doubt, his infamous conduct and dreading the revenge 
of these men — if not of Pickens and McCall themselves — 
for his outrageous treatment of their families and friends, 
Dunlap resolved to sell his life dearly, and resisted for 
several hours, until thirty-four of his men were killed and 
others wounded, himself among the latter, when he held out 
a flag and surrendered. The prisoners taken were forty- 
two, including the wounded. These were sent to Watauga, 
in what is now East Tennessee, for safe-keeping.^ 

McCall, the historian of Georgia, states that Dunlap died 
the ensuing night, and adds, " The British account of this 
affair stated that Dunlap was murdered by the guard after 
he had surrendered, but such is not the fact, however much 
he deserved such treatment." Commenting upon this, 

1 The Royal Gazette, March 21, 1781. 

2 McCall's Hist, of Ga., 361. 



128 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Draper observes that McCall errs in supposing thatDnnlap 
was not killed by his guard, or by some one with their 
connivance. It was covered up as much as possible by 
those who perpetrated the act ; but General Pickens, whose 
high sense of honor revolted against such turpitude, even 
against an officer of Dunlap's infamous character, "offered 
a handsome reward for the murderer," as General Greene 
subsequently testifies in a letter to Colonel Balfour, ac- 
companied with a copy of Pickens's order proclaiming the 
reward.^ It will be remembered that once before Dun- 
lap was supposed to have been killed. It is curious that 
a doubt should have again existed as to his death at this 
time ; and it is worthy of observation that The Royal Ga- 
zette — published in Charlestown — the faithful chronicler 
of the affairs of the British army, especially of all alleged 
atrocities on the part of the Americans, should have no 
notice of this affair, or even of Dunlap's death. Draper 
asserts, however, that a successor was appointed to his 
place, whose commission bore date the 28th of March, 
which he supposes to be the date of Dunlap's death. Certain 
it is that this noted and cruel man disappears from the 
scene of the war at this period, and, as Draper observes, 
while the manner of his taking off is to be regretted, he 
had little reason to expect better treatment. 

1 King''s Mountain and its Heroes, 163-164 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, 
vol. II, 195; Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 161 ; Gordon's Am. War, vol. 
IV, 167. This work has recently been severely criticised by Grin Grant 
Libby, Ph.D., in a critical examination of it published in the Anyiual 
lieport of the American Historical Association, 1899, vol. I, 365, in which 
Professor Libby shows that it is made up, to a large extent, of excerpts 
from the Annual Eegister, without acknowledgment or reference. In 
this instance, however, Gordon's authority is not the Annual Register, 
but a letter of General Greene to Colonel Balfour on the subject of Colo- 
nel Hayne's execution. Jai'ed Sparks, in his Life of Gouverneur Morris, 
vol. I, p. 255, observes "that Gordon suspected many things that never 
happened, as he wrote many things not worth recording." 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 129 

Another leader now took tlie field whose deeds were to 
rival those of Sumter and Marion, and who was to carry 
the war across the line of communication between Charles- 
town and the upper country, back into the region in which 
it had first been waged. 

William Harden was a native of what is now Barnwell 
County. On the 23d of February, 1776, he had been 
elected captain of an artillery company at Beaufort by 
the Provincial Congress, and had subsequently become a 
colonel of militia, in which capacity he served under General 
Bull in the early part of the war. Upon the fall of Charles- 
town he had joined Marion with a few followers whom he 
kept together. His small party had now been considerably 
increased by refugees from his old neighborhood, in the pres- 
ent counties of Barnwell, Hampton, and Beaufort, and now 
numbered seventy-six. With these and with another party 
— a band of Georgia patriots under Colonel Baker, who had 
also seen considerable service in the early part of the war 
— Harden conceived the bold design of leaving Marion on 
the Pee Dee, crossing the Santee and the country between 
Charlestown and the enemy's posts in the interior, and re- 
newing the war between Charlestown and Savannah, so as 
to cooperate with Pickens who, it was now known, was on 
his march to Ninety Six. He started upon this enterprise 
some time in March before the 21st, for Marion wrote to 
him on that day a letter which he received before the 7th of 
April. 1 With his party numbering about one hundred men, 
he crossed the Santee, and then the Edisto at Givhan's 
Ferry, and took position near Godfrey's Savannah on the 
Ashepoo River. Here he was directly between Charlestown 
and the British post called Fort Balfour at Pocotaligo. 
From his camp at this place he reported to Marion that the 
British Colonel Ballingall had a few days before come up 
with one hundred regulars and sixty horse to Pon Pon, and 
1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 1781-82, 49. 

VOL. IV. K 



130 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

said he would run him off. However, he had sent a small 
party to see how Colonel Ballingall was situated, as he 
proposed to surprise him that night ; that his party had 
succeeded in bringing off two prisoners within three hundred 
yards of his main body, whereupon the British that evening 
had made a precipitate retreat to Parker's Ferry across the 
Pon Pon, as the Edisto is there called, and the next day to 
Dorchester. Harden had expected Marion to have followed 
him, for he writes : " I have been able to keep from Pur- 
rysburg to Pon Pon clear that two or three men may ride 
in safety, and would have gone lower down but was in 
hopes you would have been over the river, and been in their 
rear where we might have been sure of them. I shall re- 
main hereabouts till I can hear from you, as I have not been 
able to take orders from General Pickens at Ninety Six." ^ 
It is in this letter of Colonel Harden to General Marion 
that the name of the unfortunate Colonel Isaac Hayne first 
appears in connection with the events which were to end 
in his tragic death. This gentleman, it will be remembered, 
had been elected without his knowledge a member of the 
General Assembly which adopted the Constitution of 1778.^ 
He was a man of great popularity and a stanch Whig ; 
and when the State was invaded by Sir Henry Clinton, had 
raised a company of volunteer cavalry, which operated in 
the rear of the British posts during the siege of Charlestown. 
He had been appointed colonel of the Colleton County 
Regiment, of which his company formed a part, but in con- 
sequence of some intrigue had resigned his commission, and 
had served as a private soldier with great zeal and deter- 
mination, thus adding greatly to the discipline of the regi- 
ment and the encouragement of his fellow-citizens. After 
the surrender of the town, Hayne had returned to his plan- 

1 GIbbes's Doc. History of the Am. Revolution, 1781-82, 49-51. 
s History of So. Ca. in the Revolution, 1775-SO (McCrady), 212. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 131 

tiition on the Edisto under the protection of the Articles of 
Capitulation, which provided that " the militia now in 
garrison shall be permitted to return to their respective 
homes as prisoners of war on parole," which provision, it 
was claimed, applied to the outposts as well as to the 
garrison."^ When, however. Sir Henry Clinton issued his 
extraordinary proclamation revoking paroles to all but 
those who were actually in garrison at the time of the 
capitulation, Colonel Ballingall of the Royal militia in this 
district waited on Hayne, and informed him that he had 
orders to require him to become a British subject or report 
instantly to the commandant at Charlestown. Hayne 
claimed the benefit of the terms of capitulation under which 
he had surrendered. But his popularity and patriotism 
caused a rigid enforcement of the terms of the proclamation 
in his case, and although small-pox was raging in his family, 
— all of his children being at the time sick, one having 
just died, and his wife being at the point of death, — even 
under all these cruel circumstances and distress, this amiable 
and upright citizen was compelled to choose between the 
abandonment of his sick family or of his country's cause. 
Finding remonstrance unavailing, he declared to Ballingall 
that no human force should remove him from his dying 
wife. The discussion terminated in a written stipulation 
by which Hayne engaged " to demean himself as a 
British subject so long as the country should be covered 
by the British army." Had matters rested thus it would 
have been well for the unfortunate gentleman. But from 
some necessity of his sick wife and children he repaired to 
Charlestown, presented himself to General Patterson with 
the written agreement of Colonel Ballingall, and solicited 
permission to return home. This was peremptorily refused, 
and Hayne was told that he must either become a British 
subject or submit to close confinement. He was in great 
1 Southern Beview (1828), vol. I, 76. 



132 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

distress at this, not on his own account, for he would 
readily have submitted to the threatened imprisonment had 
it not been for the condition of his family. He must return 
to his wife, who was supposed to be dying, and who did 
actually die shortly after. In this embarrassing situation 
he consulted with Dr. David Ramsay, one of the patriots, 
soon after sent into exile, and who was subsequently the 
historian, and left with him the following paper declaratory 
of the motives under which he acted : — 

" If the British would grant me the indulgence which we in the day 
of our power gave to tlieir adherents, of removing my family and prop- 
erty, I would seek an asylum in the remotest corner of the United 
States rather than submit to their government ; but as they allow no 
alternative than submission or confinement in the capitol at a distance 
from my wife and family, at a time when they are in the most need of 
my presence and support, I must, for the present, yield to the de- 
mands of the conqueror. I request you to bear in mind that previous 
to my taking this step I declare that it is contrary to my inclinations 
and forced on me by hard necessity. I never will bear arms against 
my country. My masters can require no service of me but what is en- 
joined by the old militia law of the Province, which substitutes a fine 
in lieu of personal service. This I will pay as the price of my protec- 
tion. If my conduct should be censured by my countrymen, I beg that 
you would remember this conversation, and bear witness for me that 
I do not mean to desert the cause of America." 

In this state of distress, Colonel Hayne subscribed a dec- 
laration of his allegiance to the king of Great Britain, but 
not, says Ramsay, without expressly objecting to the clause 
which required him " with his arms to support the Royal 
government." Whereupon the commandant of the garri 
son, General Patterson, and James Simpson, the Inten- 
dant of the British police, assured him that this would 
never be required, and, it is said, added further " that when 
the regular forces could not defend the country without the 
aid of its inhabitants, it would be high time for the Royal 
army to quit it." Having thus submitted and taken pro- 



IN THE DEVOLUTION 133 

tection, Hayne obtained permission to return to his family. 
The British authorities, however, did not respect the reser- 
vation which he had made in regard to military service, 
with the assent, as he claimed, of those who took his alle- 
giance, but in violation of it repeatedly called upon him to 
take arms against his countrymen, and finally threatened 
close confinement in case of further refusal.^ 

Affairs were in this condition with Hayne when Harden 
appeared with his party and established himself in his im- 
mediate neighborhood. Hayne, it is said, regarded the 
refusal of the British authorities to recognize the special 
condition under which he had given his allegiance as re- 
lieving him from its obligation, and also that Harden's 
appearance presented the condition under which he had 
been assured that it would be no longer binding ; but he 
was not yet prepared to act upon these views. He wavered. 
Harden had expected that he would take the field and join 
him and had brought him a commission of colonel. By 
Paul Hamilton,^ one of the party, and an intimate friend of 
Hayne, Harden sent to invite his cooperation ; but Hayne 
refused to receive the commission or even to allow Hamilton 
a few horses, of which he had a fine stock. Indeed, he in- 
formed Hamilton that the moment he heard of Harden's 
approach he had ordered all his horses removed lest assist- 
ance might be obtained in violation of his parole.^ 

Harden was very much disappointed at Hayne's course, 
and impatient under it. In his letter to Marion he writes : — 

" You will receive a letter from Col. Hayne with the commission. 
You will hear his reason for not accepting it. This gentleman has 

1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 277-280. 

2 This Paul Hamilton, who was afterwards Secretary of the United States 
Navy, was a nephew of the Paul Hamilton who was one of the addressees 
of Clinton and whose estate was amerced by the General Assembly of 
South Carolina. » Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 451-452. 



134 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLHSTA 

kept many from joining me, and is staying on too much formality. 
I have given the command of the Regiment to Major Ladson, who 
turned out the day I crossed the river, without hesitation. I hope 
you will not take it amiss, as Col. wont be seen, and the Lieu- 
tenant Colonel, Saunders, is to the northward — Ladson to act as his 
major on his old commission. I find the leading men very back- 
ward, which keep many thus, so hope you will send me or some other 
officer some proclamation, or orders what is to be done. They all say 
they wait for your army to come their way, then they will all turn out, 
but I found too many of them are waiting for commissions — they 
can't turn out without," etc.^ 

Though disappointed in the support which he received 
from the people in the neighborhood, Harden entertained 
no idea of abandoning this field. The very day he wrote 
the letter just quoted — that is, Saturday the 7th of April 
— he succeeded in capturing a captain and twenty-five 
men at a muster field on the Four Holes.^ He then pushed 
on to another small post, and on Sunday night, the 8th, 
got within six miles of it. This was garrisoned by Captain 
Barton and six men. Major Cooper was detached by 
Harden with fifteen men, who surrounded the house and 
demanded a surrender. This was refused, and a fire opened 
on the attacking party, a brisk fight ensued, in which 
Cooper was wounded, one of his men killed, and another 
wounded. Barton was also wounded and taken, three of 
his men killed, and the other three taken.^ 

Hearing that Colonel Fenwick with a corps of dragoons 
was at Pocotaligo, Harden moved at once to surprise him, 
but Fenwick heard of Harden's approach and advanced 
to meet him. Harden attempted an ambuscade. As the 
advanced parties met he ordered his men to turn into the 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 1781-82, 50. 

* Ibid., 53. This date is fixed by notice in TTie Boyal Gazette of April 
11th. From date of Harden's letter (18th) it would appear to have been 
the 14th. « Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 1781-82, 54. 



IN THE r.EVOLUTION 135 

woods, but uiifoi'tunately they went too far ; and when he 
attempted to bring them back to an attack, they gave way 
before a charge of the enemy. Fenwick, however, did 
not pursue his advantage, but retreated, leaving one man 
killed, and having seven wounded, to which must be 
added two taken prisoner the next morning. Harden lost 
one man taken and two wounded.^ The Royal Gazette 
claimed that the Americans had lost fourteen killed and 
wounded and some horses.^ Harden fell back about ten 
miles and rested a few days, then rapidly crossing the 
Combahee or Salkehatchie, as the river is here called, he 
marched upon Fort Balfour at Pocotaligo, which he came 
in sight of at twelve o'clock on Friday, the 13th. At once 
posting his men, he sent ten of the best mounted to draw 
out the garrison. It happened that just at this time 
Colonel Fenwick and Colonel Lechmere, another British 
militia officer, were visiting their hospitals at Vanbiber's 
house, a short distance from the redoubt. Harden's party 
surprised and took them prisoners with seven dragoons. 
Having thus secured the principal officers of the garrison. 
Captain Harden was sent to demand the surrender of the 
fort. This Colonel Kelsell, who was now in command, 
refused, saying that he would not give it up. A second 
demand was sent with a message that if he was obliged to 
storm the post he would give no quarter. Colonel Kelsell 
desired half an hour to consider and Harden allowed him 
twenty minutes ; at the expiration of which the fort sur- 
rendered upon terms. In two hours the fort was given 
up. The garrison, consisting of one militia colonel, 
one major, three captains, three lieutenants, and sixty 
privates, and one lieutenant and twenty-two dragoons, 
marched out and piled their arms outside of the abatis ; 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 1781-82, 54. 

2 The Boyal Gazette, April 11, 1789. 



136 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Harden and his party marched in and took possession. 
That night and the next day they destroyed the fort, as 
they had received intelligence of a relief for the garrison 
coming from Charlestown.^ This proved to be true. 
Colonel Ballingall with 100 of the Seventy-first, 30 High- 
landers, and about 40 militia soon made his appearance. 
Harden did not consider himself strong enough to give 
battle to this force, as he had detached Captain Barton with 
a party in pursuit of some boats going up the Savannah to 
Augusta. Harden had thus secured 100 prisoners with their 
arms, and the horses of the dragoons, and had destroyed 
a British post without the loss of a man. In a week's 
operation, with a party originally but 100 strong. Harden 
had broken into the enemy's lines in the rear of Charles- 
town and had in four engagements killed, wounded, and 
taken prisoners of the enemy as many as he had in his own 
ranks. Harden reported to Marion that the enemy had left 
Pocotaligo and were then lying at Blake's plantation, he 
■supposed, for some of the Tories to join them. He hoped, 
however, that but few would do so, as he had been among 
them and they had all taken to the swamp. He proposed 
to move off southwardly. He writes again : — 

" The men about Pon Pon are the backwardest, though when I first 
went there I learned they were all to be in arms only waiting till they 
could send a man to you for commissions, when they were to turn out. 
I beg you will send some immediately with your orders, it seems they 
wait for Colonel Hayne's and he says he can't act without a commis- 
sion, and is sure if he turns out at least two hundred will join him. 
If so I am very sure that this part of the country can be held." ^ 

He closes his letter with reporting he had not yet heard 
from General Pickens. 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 1781-82, 54; The Boyal Gazette, April 
14, 1781. 

2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 1781-82, 53, 55. 



CHAPTER VI 

1781 

Since the 1st of January, 1781, the volunteer partisan 
bands of South Carolina under Sumter, Marion, Pickens, 
and Harden had now added twenty-six more engagements 
to the list of twenty-six they had fought in 1780.^ In 
eight of these affairs the reported casualties among the 
British and Tories amounted to 340, and in the five in 
which the numbers are given, the Americans lost but 53. 
In those affairs in which there are no reports of casu- 
alties on the British side, there was some of the hardest 
fighting, as in Watson's engagements at Mount Hope and 
Black River. There can be little doubt, therefore, that the 
loss inflicted upon the enemy in the year 1781, up to this 
time, amounted to something over 500. And it may be as 
safe to compute the loss of the partisan bands at 200. So 
that in the fifty-two battles, great and small, which these 
volunteer soldiers in South Carolina had fought in the ten 
months from the fall of Charlestown, they had killed, 
wounded, and taken prisoners of the enemy at least 3000, 
at a loss to themselves of about 1000. Between Lord 
Rawdon, at Camden, on the frontier, as it was termed, and 
Balfour's command at Cliarlestown, Sumter, Marion, and 
Harden had worked up the whole country from the Pee 
Dee across tlie Santee, and Congaree to the Savannah — 
from the Waxhaws to Beaufort; and now Pickens was 

1 See Tables of Engagements in 1 780, History of So. Ca. in the BevolU' 
tion, 1775-80 (McCrady), 850-853. 

137 



138 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

hastening to bring into the field the increasing friends to 
the American cause in Ninety Six. But far beyond the 
achievements which these numbers indicate, these volunteer 
soldiers, with the assistance of their brethren from North 
Carolina on the one side and Georgia on the other, had 
accomplished much for the cause of freedom against the 
invaders. They had, as has been shown, by their own 
unaided efforts broken up the plans of the enemy, and 
disconcerted their schemes of campaign for the whole 
country. The advantages of their uprising had not been 
confined to South Carolina, or even to the South. It is 
not presumptuous to say they had done much to save 
Washington's army from destruction in the time of its 
weakness, and to render Yoiktown possible. 

But notwithstanding their unselfish heroism and the es- 
sential services they had rendered to the country at large, 
the conviction was growing even among their own leaders, 
and the most patriotic of themselves, that this system of 
warfare could no longer be relied upon, nor indeed could 
it longer be endured. From its very nature it was pro- 
ductive of great evils. Fighting without pay, clothing, or 
provisions furnished by a government of any kind, their 
necessities engendered irregularities in the best of their or- 
ganizations. Serving as volunteer militia, it was impossible 
to preserve any more discipline than their patriotism would 
impose upon them. Coming and going from their homes 
to the battle-field, compelled to be caring for their families, 
as well as providing for their own wants, fighting to-day 
and ploughing to-morrow, not even their patriotism could 
afford the discipline necessary to an army. Then, be- 
yond these evils, which afflicted the virtuous and the 
true, there was the still greater evil that the means of sup- 
plying the necessities of the good soldier opened the door 
to the rapacity and cruelty of the evil. There came with 



IN THE REVOLUTION 139 

the true patriots a host of false friends and plunderers. 
And this was true of both sides in this terrible struggle. 
The outlaw Whig and the outlaw Tory, or rather the 
outlaws who were pretended Whigs or Tories, as the occa- 
sion served, were laying waste the country almost as much 
as those who were fighting for the one side or the other. 

There was no civil government in the State beyond the 
precinct of the British Intendant and Board of Police in 
Charlestown, and they administered a military rule.^ Gov- 
ernor Rutledge, embodying in himself all that remained of 
the civil power and authority under the new State constitu- 
tion, wisely and properly remained beyond the limits of 
immediate danger of capture. He had come from Phila- 
delphia with Gates in the hope that the Continental army 
would restore at least a part of the State to his government, 
and when that hope was frustrated by the defeat at 
Camden, he had retired to Hillsboro, there counselling with 
the authorities of North Carolina and the Congress. Then 
he had come to Charlotte with Greene, from which point 
he was in close communication with Sumter and Marion. 

On the 8th of March the Governor wrote to Sumter from 
the camp on Haw River, North Carolina : — 

"The present situation of affairs rendering it impracticable for me to 
return immediately into So. Carolina, not seeing any prospect of being 
able to go thither very soon, and it being impossible if we s** penetrate 
that country to reestablish the civil government for some time ; & 
my remaining here being of no sei-vice to our State, I have determined 
to set off in a few days for Philadelphia with a view of procuring 
if possible some supplies of clothing for our militia (whose distress 
for want of it give me the greatest concern) and of obtaining such effec- 
tual aid as may soon restore both Ch' Town & and the country to our 

1 This court, established by military authority, assumed civil jurisdic- 
tion ; but after the Revolution it was repeatedly adjudged an illegal body, 
and all acts under its authority void. — Brisbane v. Lestarjette, 1 Bay's 
Reports, 113. 



140 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAllOLTNA 

possession — my utmost endeavor for these purposes shall be exerted, 
& I flatter myself that I may succeed by personal application — I am 
persuaded of your utmost attention & that you will pursue such meas- 
ures as may be most serviceable to the State, & I doubt not that 
Gen' Marion (to whom I have wrote) & Gen' Pickens (to whom I 
have spoke on the subject) will forward your views to the utmost of 
their power — I shall be glad to hear from you under cover to Gen' 
Greene when any material occurrence offers, & shall write to you 
under cover to him when I have any material to communicate." 

He promised to send blank commissions as soon as he could 
procure them, and in the meanwhile he authorized Sumter 
to give brevets, and " in order," he wrote, " that you may 
carry sufficient authority over the several officers of your 
brigade you may remove any of them and appoint others 
in their stead, from time to time, as you think proper." ^ 
His Excellency wrote a similar letter to General Marion, 
indeed almost in the same words. In the letter to Marion 
he adds : — 

" I am persuaded of the continuance of your utmost attention, and 
hope you will cultivate a good understanding with Gen'ls Sumter 
and Pickens, and do everything in your power to forward the former's 
views, and shall be glad to hear from you when anything material 
offers, under cover, to him," etc.^ 

Governor Rutledge had probably some good reason for 
thus carefully enjoining the line of precedence and com- 
munications among his generals, and urging a cordial co- 
operation between them, for Marion does not appear to 
have been anxious to subordinate his movements to the 
direction of Sumter. The latter had made strenuous 
efforts and earnest appeals to Marion for counsel and co- 
operation. From his camp at Friday's Ferry, on the 20tli 
of February, he had written to Marion, " If you can with 
propriety advance southward so as to cooperate or corre- 

1 Sumter MSB. 2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 1781-82, 32. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 111 

spoiid with me it might have the best of consequences."^ 
Again on the 28th he had written : — 

" Nothing can at this time be more essentially necessary to the 
interest of this country than to form a well-regulated army in the 
interior part of this State, while the enemy's principal force is so far 
removed. I hope it will not interfere with any plan that you have 
laid to come this way. From the idea I have of the state of things in 
this quarter I think it expedient for you to proceed to this place. 
I shall wait impatiently for the happiness of an interview with you." ^ 

From the High Hills of Santee he once more appeals to 
Marion for an interview, adding, " You will readily agree 
with me that the worst of consequences are to be appre- 
hended from my having to return without seeing you and 
fixing upon a proper mode of our future proceedings."^ 
But Marion had made no response, and Sumter, failing to 
obtain cooperation from him, had gone back to the Wax- 
haws, whereupon Rawdon had turned upon Marion. 

As he could obtain no conference with Marion, Sumter 
now assumed the responsibilitj'- of a reorganization of the 
militia, under Governor Rutledge's original instructions 
accompanying his commission as brigadier general, and 
by which he was especially charged to give the strictest 
orders and use the most efficient means to prevent the 
shameful practice of plundering. 

As the volunteer, who was always mounted, must be 
supplied with food for himself and forage for his horse, he 
had helped himself from the British magazines or the 
Tory barns as occasion allowed ; and when these could 
not be drawn upon, he took from his own friends what his 
necessities demanded. This was not improper in such a 
warfare, but it was demoralizing to the troops and ruinous 
to the country. Still more so were the bands of thieves 
and robbers which this condition of affairs inevitably pro- 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 1781-82, 23. 2 ji^ia,^ 49. 3 ji)i(i., 28. 



142 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

duced — men representing themselves now as Whigs, and 
now as Tories, according as were the parties to be 
plundered. In regard to horses also there was the further 
consideration tliat, if not taken by the Americans, they 
would fall into the hands of the British or Tories, and 
supply their most pressing want. General Greene writes 
to Sumter, 15th of April : — 

" Although I am a great enemy to ph;ndering, yet T think the horses 
belonging to the inhabitants within the enemy's lines should be taken 
from them, especially such as are either fit for the wagons or dra- 
goon service. If we are superior in cavalry, and can prevent the 
enemy from equipping a number of teams, it will be almost impos- 
sible for them to hold their posts, and utterly impossible to pursue us 
if we should find a retreat necessary." ^ 

From the "New Acquisition," the present county of 
York, Sumter writes to Marion, on the 28th of March, his 
plan of remedying these evils : ^ — 

" It was exceedingly mortifying, after so much pains taken, to be 
deprived of a conference with you, a circumstance much to be la- 
mented, as both individuals and the publick are consequently much 
injured thereby. Your advice and assistance in framing, adjusting, 
and laying down a proper plan of operation against the enemy in 
future might have produced the most happy events. My unfortunate 
failing herein, and withal finding, contrary to my expectations, that 
you had neither men or supplies of any kind, and the force I had 
with me but small and from many causes decreasing, rendered my 
retreat at once both necessary and difficult. I find that the dis- 
orders are prevalent in your brigade which have for some time been 
practised in the frontiers with such avidity as to threaten the State 
with inevitable ruin. To obviate which evil, as far as possible, I 
have adopted measures truly disagreeable, such as can only be justi- 
fied by our circumstances and the necessity of the case. But it is 
clearly my opinion, unless this or a similar method be immediately 
carried into effect, that neither tlie State or the wealth thereof will 

1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 89. 
a Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 44-46. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 143 

be in the power or possession of the deserving citizens after a few 
weeks. The dissoluteness of our pretended friends and the ravages 
committed by them are as alarming and distressing as that of having 
the enemy among us. It is therefore necessary immediately to dis- 
criminate who are enemies and who are real friends ; the former 
treated as their business and perfidy authorize ; the latter to be known 
only by their conduct — that is, by bearing arms and doing duty 
when thereunto required by proper authority, and in case of refusal 
or neglect both person and property to be treated and dealt with 
accordingly. Nothing can be more unwise or impolitic than to suffer 
all the wealth of our country to be so basely and unfairly appropriated 
for the sole purpose of accumulating our misfortunes, and finally com- 
pleting our ruin, which it is in our power at once to check, if not totally 
prevent the evils and disadvantages resulting therefrom ; to which end 
I propose raising several regiments of Light Dragoons upon the State 
establishment, agreeably to the enclosed sketch of a plan for that pur- 
pose. I therefox'e request that you would be pleased to cause to be im- 
mediately raised in your brigade two regiments agreeably thereto. I 
have also to request that you give orders and oblige every person with 
you to join their proper regiments or brigades, and that none of the 
enemy when taken be pai^oled or set at liberty, but in cases of extreme 
necessity — that all the property captured or taken from the enemy 
be securely kept for publick purposes except what is allowed to, and 
appropriated to and for the use of the troops in service agreeably to 
terms proposed. Nothing can be more essential to promote the hap- 
piness and secure the peace and tranquillity of the people of this coun- 
try than treating with the utmost severity all persons who contrary 
to orders and to the total subversion of all authority take upon them- 
selves to form parties to go a plundering, distressing the resources of 
the country necessary for the use and support of the army." 

Sumter at this time was still suffering from the wound 
received at Blackstock. He closes this letter to Marion 
with the observation, "I write in so much pain as hardly 
to know my own meaning or read what I write." 

What were the measures so truly disagreeable which he 
directed Marion to adopt are not stated ; but a letter writ- 
ten by Colonel Richard Hampton to Major John Hampton 
just after, that is, on the 2d of April, gives the terms upon 



144 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

which the new regiments were to be organized. It is 
as follows : ^ — 

"Dear Brother — For news I give you the following, viz : Bro. 
Wade has joined Gen'l Sumter and has left all his property in the 
possession of the British and Tories ; he now fights them hard. 
Bro. Henry is raising a regular regiment of Light Horse, as also 
Col. Middleton, Hawthorn Hill. Bro. Wade, I believe, will also 
raise a regiment. It will not be amiss to mention the terms on 
which they are to be raised and the number each regiment is to consist 
of. The troops are to enlist for ten months, each regiment to have one 
Lieutenant Colonel, one Major, five Captains, ten Lieutenants. Each 
company two sergeants, twenty-five privates, the pay to be as fol- 
lows: Each Colonel to receive three grown negroes and one small 
negro; Major to receive three grown negroes; Captain two grown 
negroes ; Lieutenants one large and one small negro ; the Staff one large 
and one small negro ; the sergeants one and a quarter negro.^ Each 
private one grown negro. And to be furnished with one coat, two 
■waistcoats, two pair overalls, two shirts, two pair stockings, one pair 
of shoes and spurs, one horseman's cap, one blanket, (and one half 
bushel salt to those who have families), with two-thirds of all articles 
captured from the enemy except negroes and military stores, and 
salvage allowed them for all articles belonging to our friends which we 
may capture from the enemy, and to be equipped with a sword, pistols, 
horse, saddle, and bridle, &c. Should you meet with any young men 
who are willing to turn into this kind of service you may assure them 
that the terms will be strictly complied with, and the General directs 
that any who think projier to come out with the wagons to join 
the hard service are to be served with provisions for themselves and 
horses." 

Earnest and sincere as Sumter doubtless was in this 
effort to reorganize the volunteer bands and to provide a 
regular force enlisted for a definite terra upon consideration 

1 Gibbes's Docmnentanj Hist. (1781-82), 47-48. MSS. in Secretary of 
State's office, Columbia. 

2 Under ten years or over forty was a half negro, a full negro being 
valued at $400. —Ed. Gibbes's Docnmenlnry Hist. (1781-82), 48. Negro 
slaves were regarded as subjects of spoil by all parties, the British officers 
as well as by the Americans, Continental and State troops. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 145 

of pay in kind — negroes and salt — if not in money, it might 
well have been doubted if troops raised upon such terms 
would prove better soldiers than the patriotic volunteers, 
who came and went as the occasion permitted, but who 
served for no other reward than the hope of obtaining the 
freedom of their country. Sumter's purpose was to secure 
a body of men enlisted for a definite period and compensated 
for their services in such a manner as to avoid the necessity 
of their living upon the country indiscriminately ; and then 
to put down all excuse for plunder. As there was no organ- 
ized government to draft men, nor any money with which to 
pay them, he proposed voluntary enlistment for a share of 
the spoils taken from the enemy and salvage on property 
rescued and restored to their friends. But this scheme was 
at last based only upon organized plunder instead of private 
robbery. The troops were to be paid from what they could 
take from the enemy. ^ 

1 Sumter and Pickens each organized troops on this plan, which was 
known as " Sumter's law," and in doing so incuiTed responsibilities for 
which they were called upon to answer when the war was over. To relieve 
them from their liabilities acts were passed by the General Assembly in 1784 
to indemnify them and such persons as had acted under them " from 
vexatious suits on account of their transactions during the British usurpa- 
tions in this State" (Statutes of So. Ca., vol. IV. 598-001). Cases were, 
however, brought which necessitated a consideration of the matter by the 
courts of the State, and in which the judges repudiated the seizures under 
" Sumter's law," but in which the juries would not follow the instruction 
of the judges. The first case. Porter v. Dunn, 1 Bay's Reports, 53, was 
tried in 1787 before Judge John Faucheraud Grimk^, who had been an 
officer in the Continental army. From the reports of this case, we learn, 
that it had appeared in evidence on the trial that in order to do justice to 
the ofiicers and soldiers in the brigade, a commissary was appointed to 
take custody of the property seized, and also a board of field officers 
whose duty it was to examine into the claims of each individual and like- 
wise into the property taken ; and if the property belonged to one friendly 
to the interests of the country, it was restored to him ; but if to the enemy 
or their adherents, it was delivered to the officers and men in lieu of pay. 

The case was hotly contested. General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 

VOL. IV. L 



146 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

Marion appears to have disapproved of the scheme, and 
quite a sharp correspondence passed between Sumter and 

who, it must be observed, had been in the Continental line and not in the 
militia or volunteers, appeared for Dunn, from w^hom the negroes in the 
case had been taken. He maintained that Dunn had never been divested 
of his property either voluntarily or by any competent tribunal. That the 
seizure of the negroes was an unlawful act not warranted by the law of 
nations or any municipal law. He endeavored to show, that though Dunn 
had at one time been deluded and had joined the British standard, he had 
returned to the American cause andhadsince conducted himself as a good 
citizen. But he insisted that the property taken from an open enemy 
was not changed in war until the capture had been legally investigated in 
some court of competent jurisdiction, nor until a condemnation had taken 
place. On the other side John Julius Pringle, appearing for Porter, the 
ofl&cer who held the negroes under an assignment from the board of field 
ofHcers, urged that, though the act of taking the property was not squared 
with the nice rules of law, yet the necessity of the times, the desperate 
situation to which the country was at that time reduced, justified its policy. 
The State was overrun, ravaged, pillaged from one end to the other, and its 
defenceless inhabitants suffered every species of injury and insult. It was 
without resources and without men to defend it. New and extraordinary 
measures were necessary, and they were adopted. He pleaded the acts of 
indemnity as sure and complete protection to his client. That whatever was 
irregular or not conformable to the rules of war in the conduct of the General 
or any of his officers was cured and legalized ; that the property so disposed 
of for public use vested in the persons to whom it was delivered. The only 
remedy the former proprietor had was by application to the legislature, 
which had, in many instances, when favorable circumstances accom- 
panied the applicant's claim, granted full compensation. 

Judge Grimk^ charged the jury that the practice of taking property from 
an enemy was not justified by the law of nations or rule of warfare. That 
it had a tendency to promote licentiousness in the army, was discounte- 
nanced by all civilized nations. Nevertheless, he held that the act of in- 
demnity protected the officer, and that the former owner of the negroes 
could only look to the legislature for compensation. Under this charge the 
jury found for the officer. A new trial was moved for before a full bench, 
consisting of Judges Henry Pendleton, ^danus Burke, Thomas Hey ward, 
Jr., and J. F. Grimk6, who granted a new trial on the ground that it teas a 
hard case ; but upon the second trial, at Camden, the verdict was again for 
the officer and this was acquiesced in. 

But the subject was not yet closed. It was again mooted in 1792, in 



IN THE REVOLUTION 147 

himself upon the subject. This, however, originated in a 
matter of much less consequence, — a dispute between two of 
their officers as to the regiment in which certain recruits were 
to be enlisted. Colonel Kolb, an officer of Marion's brigade, 
complained that Major Snipes, under Sumter's alleged 
authority, had taken some of Kolb's recruits for an in- 
dependent company Governor Rutledge had authorized 
Snipes to raise. But, though originating in the discussion 
of this matter, Sumter complains of Marion's opposition to 
the raising of troops upon the State Establishment as he pro- 
posed, and resents the ground which Marion seems to have 
taken that there was no authority for the measure.^ 

Sumter's scheme was not a success. He raised but few 

the case of the Administration of Moore v. Cherry, 1st Bay's Reports, 269. 
In this case, which was tried at Ninety Six, it appeared that the negro 
was taken from some persons called Tories, says the report, by a scouting 
party under the command of Colonel Brandon, who sold the property taken 
and divided the proceeds among the party. Judge Grimk6 presided at this 
trial, as he had at the former, and likewise charged the jury against the 
defendant who had purchased the negro from the captors, and in favor 
of the plaintiff, the former owner. The jury, however, as did the former, 
found for the defendant. At a second trial Judge Burke, who presided, 
charged, as had Judge Grimke, for the plaintiff, but the jury again 
found for the defendant. An appeal was taken, and upon the hearing the 
principal question was whether a third trial would be granted. John 
Rutledge, who was then Chief Justice under the constitution of 1790, was 
of opinion that, as this was a dispute about property taken during the war, 
it was best that there should be an end of it ; though holding that it was 
competent for a court to order a third trial, he nevertheless was opposed to 
granting it in this case. Judge Waties, who had been one of Marion's men 
(and Marion, it will be recollected, had refused to act under " Sumter's 
law"), not only maintained the power of the court to order a third trial, 
but was of opinion it should be granted in this case ; and in this view Judge 
Bay concurred. What was the result of the trial, if it ever took place, 
we do not know. James Yancey appeared for the plaintiff, and Robert 
Goodloe Harper for the defendant. It is interesting that the author 
has before him the original manuscript notes of argument of the counsel in 
this case. 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 65. 



148 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

men under it. Ramsay observes that hitherto all of 
Sumter's enterprises had been effected by volunteers from 
the militia, but the long-continued service in the field 
pointed out the propriety of a more permanent corps. 
General Sumter, therefore, in March, 1781, with the appro- 
bation of General Greene, enlisted three small regiments of 
regular State troops, to be employed in constant service for 
the space of ten months. With these and the returning 
Continentals, he says, the war recommenced in South Caro- 
lina.^ In regard to the number of regiments in the field, 
the historian was undoubtedly mistaken. Besides Marion's 
brigade on the Pee Dee, and the troops Pickens and McCall 
were raising on the Savannah, Sumter had with him upon 
Greene's return to South Carolina the regiments of Taylor, 
Lacey, Winn, Bratton, Hill, and Henry Hampton. 

Wade Hampton now for the first time appears in the 
field upon the side of the Whigs. Judge Johnson men- 
tions him as one of Sumter's officers taken and paroled by 
the British at Fishing Creek ; ^ but this is a -mistake. 
Henry Hampton was then with Sumter, Wade Hampton 
was not — indeed, as has appeared, more than a month after 
that battle, that is, on the 21st of September, he declared him- 
self a loyal subject of his Majesty.^ It is doubtless in allu- 
sion to this tliat, on the 2d of April, Richard Hampton 
writes to John: '■'■ For news I give you the following; viz., 
Bro. Wade has joined Gen' Sumter and has left his prop- 
erty in the possession of the British and Tories ; he now 
fights them hard.'''' Notwithstanding his declaration of loy- 
alty, it appears, from Johnson's account, that he had been 
arrested for some cause, and that a party of twelve men were 
taking him to prison, when, by one of those extraordinary 

1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. C(i., vol. II, 227. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 31. 

3 Hist, of So. ba. in the Revolution, 1775-SO (McCrady), 729. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 149 

actions which characterize the men of that day, he suc- 
ceeded in seizing the muskets of two of his guard and over- 
awing the whole body, and by his threats and his known 
character he effected his escape, having with liim the weapons 
that insured his safety. Considering himself now released 
from his obligations to the British authorities, he joined 
Sumter. Johnson narrates this incident as if it had taken 
place before Sumter's raid, in February, but Richard 
Hampton's letter of the 2d of April indicates that it was 
then of a more recent occurrence.^ 

The case of Wade Hampton was one of many which 
were now giving great concern to the British authorities, 
and which were to result in the execution of the unhappy 
Hayne. Upon the fall of Charlestown many of the mi- 
litia then in the field, it will be remembered, had accepted 
the terms of surrender offered them, that is, the same as 
had been accorded the garrison of the town; viz., that 
they should be permitted to return to their homes as pris- 
oners of war on parole. The militia accepting these terms 
had been those embodied under Richardson and Kershaw 
in the eastern part of the State, under Williamson and 
Pickens in the western or Ninety Six District, and under 
Bull in the Low-Country. Though Bratton, Winn, Lacey, 
and others had individually served during the siege of 
Charlestown, the militia of the upper country had not 
come out. While, therefore, the British held the line from 
Ninety Six to Camden, and from Camden to Georgetown, 
few, if any, questions had arisen in regard to the effect of 
Sir Henry Clinton's proclamation revoking the paroles of 

1 Dr. Johnson, in his Traditions^ mentions the incident on the author- 
ity of Colonel Thomas Taylor, but does not give any date. By his 
account, Wade Hampton was taken prisoner upon some occasion, and 
was being taken under guard to be placed in a prison ship, when he thus 
effected his escape. 



150 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the militia who had not actually served in the garrison of 
the towns, as the militia in the upper country had not been 
in arms to accept the terms and give their paroles. But 
when Marion and Hai'den broke through from the Pee Dee, 
and Clarke and McCall from the Savannah, and appealed 
to the Whigs, their former comrades, to arise, the status of 
these persons became of the greatest importance to both 
sides. Were they bound by the paroles they had given 
since Clinton's proclamation annulling the terms upon 
which they surrendered ? If so, the Whigs could obtain no 
recruits in the territory they might recover. If not, the 
British officers saw the people within the lines they had 
hitherto held ready now to rise and turn upon them. It 
has been seen how Pickens had hesitated, and how strongly 
he had been warned by his friend. Captain Ker, a British 
officer, of the danger of disregarding his parole, and warned 
of his certain execution in case he should unfortunately again 
fall into their hands. But, regarding the terms of his sur- 
render as violated, Pickens had not been deterred, but was 
now, though " with a halter round his neck," as the phrase 
was, heroically and successfully fighting with his old com- 
rades against the faithless enemy. His example had been 
contagious. Many of the paroled militia were now joining 
the Whig partisan bands, as Sumter, Marion, and Harden 
penetrated to the rear of the British lines. Colonel Hayne, 
a man of great influence, was going through the same trial 
which had resulted in returning Pickens to the field. 
Lord Rawdon and Balfour determined that a stop must be 
put to the movement. 

The issue was first made in the case of Captain John 
Postell, the officer of Marion's brigade who had made the 
successful raid upon Monck's Corner in January. Captain 
Postell had been in the garrison of Charlestown during the 
siege, and had been paroled. His parole, which was sirai- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 151 

lar in form to that given in a note to a former volume,^ re- 
quired him to remain at his phmtation in the parish of St. 
Mark's, in the county of Craven, until exchanged or other- 
wise released, and pledged him that in the meantime he 
would not do or cause to be done anything prejudicial to 
the success of his Majesty's arms, or have intercourse or 
hold correspondence with his enemies.^ By the terms of 
the capitulation it had been stipulated that the militia, 
upon giving these paroles, so long as they observed them, 
should be allowed to return to their homes, and there to be 
" secure from being molested in their property by British 
troops." 3 In violation of this stipulation Postell had been 
stripped of his property. " My honor is all I have left," he 
wrote to Marion, " my family has been reduced to beg their 
bread." ^ Considering himself released from the obligations 
of his parole, Postell had joined Marion and had become 
one of his most trusted officers. Just before Postell's ex- 
ploit at Monck's Corner, Marion had come to an agreement 
with Captain Saunders, commanding the British post at 
Georgetown, for a partial exchange of prisoners, and at 
Postell's request Marion sent him with the flag to deliver 
the prisoners on their side. Postell had sought the mission, 
hoping to obtain the release of his father, who was a pris- 
oner in the hands of the British.^ The British refused to 
recognize the flag because it was accompanied by Postell, 
seized him, and threw him into the jail at Georgetown as 
a prisoner who had broken his parole. Marion, indignant 
at this treatment of his flag, wrote at once to Captain 

1 Hist, of So. Ca. in the Revohition, 1775-80 (McCrady), 718. 

2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 36. 

* Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 100. 

* Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 38. 

* James's Life of Marion, 113. The author says that Postell "ob- 
tained leave to go with a flag," but is not explicit whether he was himself 
the bearer of it, or merely accompanied it — a point of consequence. 



152 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Saunders, protesting against its violation. Postell, he 
stated, had been sent by his orders with a flag to effect the 
exchange of prisoners, to which Saunders had agreed ; he 
was greatly surprised to find that Saunders not only re- 
fused to make the exchange, but had violated his flag by 
taking Postell prisoner, contrary to the laws of nations. 
" I shall immediately acquaint the commandant at Charles- 
town," he writes, " and if satisfaction is not given I will 
take it in every instance that may fall in my power." ^ He 
adds : — 

" I have ever used all the officers and men taken by me with hu- 
manity ; but your conduct in closely confining Capt. Clark in a place 
where he cannot stand up, nor have his length, and not giving him 
half rations will oblige me to retaliate on the officers and men which 
are or may fall in my hands, which nothing will prevent but your re- 
leasing Capt. Postell immediately and using my officers as gentlemen, 
and your prisoners as customary in all civilized nations."^ 

To Balfour, the commandant at Charlestown, he wrote 
that, unless his flag was discharged, he must immediately 
acquaint Congress. He informed him of the ill treatment 
of other officers by Captain Saunders, and concluded : — 

" Should these evils not be prevented in the future it will not be in 
my power to prevent retaliation taking j^lace. Lord Rawdon and 
Colonel Watson have hanged three of my brigade for siipposed crimes, 
which will make as many of your men in my hands suifer. I hope 
this will be prevented in the future, for it is not my wish to act but 
with humanity and tenderness to the unfortunate men whom the 
chances of war may throw in my power." 

To Watson he also wrote : ^ " The hanging of men taken 
prisoners and the violation of my flag will be retaliated if 

1 Glbbes's Documentary Hbt. (1781-82), 31. 

- We have not been able to find further information in regard to the 
case of Captain Clark here alluded to. 

3 Gibbes's Ducumentary Hist. (1781-82), 30; James's Life of Marion, 
Appendix, 25. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 153 

a stop is not put to such proceedings, which is disgraceful 
to all civilized nations." 

In sending these letters Marion took the precaution to 
send an armed party along with the flag to prevent any 
further detention of its bearers. Though this party was 
attempted to be concealed, the British were aware of their 
presence, and Watson, taking exception, sent his reply by a 
little boy.i 

" It is with less surprise," he writes, " that I find a letter sent by 
you in all the apparent forms of a flag of truce attended by an armed 
party who concealed themselves within a certain distance of a place 
that pointed itself out for the delivery of it, than to see the contents 
of it exhibit a complaint from you against us for violating the law of 
nations." 

A considerable correspondence ensued, each party charg- 
ing the other with conduct unbecoming civilized warfare. 
In this correspondence two things are noticeable : first, 
that Watson, who was regarded by the British as one of 
their best officers and esteemed by the Americans for his 
humanity,^ defends the burning of houses and property 
of the inhabitants who were their enemies, notwithstand- 
ing the distress it occasioned to women and children, 
as the custom of war ; and second, that Marion takes no 
issue with Watson as to their right to take and to hold 
Postell as a prisoner who had broken his parole, but rests 
his complaint upon their violation of his flag. " If Captain 
Postell was a prisoner," he writes, " it was no reason for 
the violation of my flag, especially when it was sent to 
exchange prisoners agreed upon by Captain Saunders." 
Watson held that a flag of truce could not cover one of 
their own men. Marion held that they could not inquire 
or know who was under his flag of truce. He did not 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 33, 38. 
" James's Life ofMcmon, 111, 112. 



154 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

meet the great question at issue as to the status of those 
who had given their paroles and claimed now to be released 
from their obligations. 

This correspondence had been carried on while Marion 
and Watson were facing each other across the Black River, 
and, notwithstanding it, Marion had allowed a pass to Nel- 
son's Ferry for some of Watson's wounded men, and mat- 
ters may have been in some way accommodated between 
these generous foes ; but Balfour, the commandant of this 
department, was a man of a different character. He deter- 
mined to secure Postell's person against all chance of re- 
lease. He writes to Saunders : — 

" As to Postell, you have done perfectly right. I have got his pa- 
role which he has broke, and which renders him wholly unfit to enter 
any service, as it entitles me to seize him as our prisoner wherever we 
can find him ; no sanction whatever can defend him against a breach 
of the parole, by which his liberty was allowed him, and by trusting 
to his honor, permitted him to use the means of making his escape 
if he chose to break it and take the advantage of these means. He 
takes the chance of falling into our hands and feeling the punishment 
due to his breach of the laws of war. I wish you to send him by 
land, but if inconvenient you may send him by water in Dorrell's ves- 
sel or any other fast sailer when she returns with a guard ; but of this 
do as you will, only be so good as not allow him to have a chance of 
escaping. I send you an answer to a letter received from Marion by 
a flag of truce sent to Col. Watson's post ; and I also send you a copy 
of his letter to me. In sending it out be so good as to be careful who 
you send ; a non-coraiuissioned officer will be best for fear he detains 
the person sent on account of Postell, which I forgot to mention to 
you in my last." 

Balfour's caution had come too late. Captain Saunders, 
less wary than either Watson or Balfour, had sent to 
INIarion a flag by an officer, Mr. Mariott of the Queen's 
Rangers, whereupon Marion seized and detained him as a 
hostage for Postell's release. Balfour and Saunders wrote, 
protesting against such action, insisting that the cases were 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 155 

not similar. Their arguments would not, however, have 
availed ; but unfortunately Marion had not a jail within 
which to cast Mariott as Balfour had for Postell. He had 
only the insecure confinement of a guard in the field, and 
from this Mariott succeeding in making his escape, and, 
as was claimed by The Royal Gazette^ taking off with him 
twenty-five men. Postell, on the contrary, underwent a 
long and vigorous imprisonment,^ which lasted indeed until 
the end of the war. 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 29-43; James's Life of 
Marion, 111-112, 113; The Eoyal Gazette, April 4, 1781. 



CHAPTER VII 

1781 

While these events had been transpiring in this State, 
Green had, on the 15th of March, unsuccessfully fought the 
battle of Guilford Court-house, in North Carolina. News 
of the battle appears to have reached both parties here 
about the same time. The British were greatly elated at 
its result. The Royal G-azette of the 28th states that in- 
telligence of this important victory was announced to the 
public in Charlestown by the ringing of bells on Sunday 
evening the 24th. On Monday afternoon the troops in 
garrison, with the volunteer companies, were paraded and 
fired a feu de joie, while guns in the batteries on his Maj- 
esty's ships and the merchant vessels in the harbor thun- 
dered a salute. The populace, said the G-azette, joined in 
these military manifestations of joy by loud and continued 
acclamations. At night a ball was given at the State 
House by Mr. Cruden, the commissioner of sequestered 
estates, to a numerous and brilliant assembly of ladies and 
gentlemen. The ball lasted till the next morning, when, 
the Gazette states, the company broke up, rejoiced at the 
happy occasion of the meeting, and delighted with the 
politeness and attention of the gentleman whose loyalty 
had called so many persons together.^ 

1 The ladies here mentioned were doubtless those of the British oflBcials 
and Loyalists, for Dr. Ramsay assures us that those of the Whigs with- 
stood all solicitation to grace public entertainments with their presence. 
Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 123-124. 

156 



IN THE REVOLUTION 157 

The Americans were equally disappointed, but Sumter 
would not admit defeat. In his letter of the 28th of March 
he congratulates Marion upon the happy advantage gained 
by Major-General Greene and the army under his command 
over Lord Cornwallis near Guilford Court-house.^ And 
though Greene had been compelled to abandon the field 
with the loss of his artillery, and to admit a defeat, which 
he attributed to the conduct of the North Carolina mili- 
tia, he still persuaded himself that the advantages re- 
mained with him. He entertained a confident hope " that 
although his adversary had gained his cause, he was ruined 
by the expense of it," ^ and this was in a great measure true. 
The British had lost many more than had his army, and 
had been able to keep the ground only because the Amer- 
icans were unable longer to contest it. Then Cornwallis 
had left the field of action in a movement which soon degen- 
erated into a retreat, scarce becoming a victorious army — 
a retreat in which he was obliged to abandon his wounded, 
and to leave unburied those who died.^ Greene had re- 
sumed the offensive and had pursued the British, but hav- 
ing been obliged to send away the horses of the militia for 
the want of forage, he had now no mounted infantry with 
which to support his small force of cavalry. Still more 
fatal to his recovery of the advantages lost at Guilford was 
the refusal of the Virginia and North Carolina militia 
longer to serve when their term expired on the 30th. 
This caused a halt and an abandonment of the pursuit. 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 46. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene^ vol. II, 24. 

8 This is Sir Henry Clinton's contemptuous comment on Lord Corn- 
wallis's victory at Guilford Court-house, "... from 3200 when he (Lord 
Cornwallis) passed the Catawba in January he is reduced by sickness and 
desertion to 1300, and after the victory, which was brilliant, to 700. 
AVith those, without provisions or arms, he invites by proclamation those 
poor people to join him 1 " — Clinton- Cornwallis Controversy, vol. I, 396. 



158 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Cornwallis escaped to Wilmington, with his crippled, if 
victorious, army. 

The day after the battle of Guilford, Captain Wade 
Hampton arrived in the American camp there, and brought 
to Greene information of the movements in South Carolina 
since he had left the State, and the following letter from 
Sumter, dated Waxhaws, 9th March, 1781,^ 

" I marched on Tuesday the 16th ultimo from the Catawba with 
about two hundred and eighty men for the Congaree. I proceeded 
from thence to the enemies' posts at Col. Thompson's, Nelson's ferry, 
South Lake, etc., was within fifty miles of Charlestown, but finding 
I could get no assistance from Gen^ Marion, thought proper to re- 
turn, which I have happily effected with very inconsiderable loss — 
as I still labor under the misfortune of having but little use of my 
right hand, and writing very painful, therefore not to deprive you of 
a full account of my proceedings and any necessary intelligence, re- 
specting the situation of the enemy in So. Carolina, I have sent Capt. 
Hampton, a valuable and intelligent officer, who will wait upon you 
for that purpose, on whose information you may rely — and to whom 
you may communicate with safety — he is fully acquainted with my 
late operations and partly with my designs in future. Until your 
pleasure is known notwithstanding Capt. Hampton is w^ell acquainted 
with my late proceedings I shall in the course of a few days transmit 
to you a particular account thereof in writing — a variety of things 
I could wish to mention but fear you are not circumstanced so as to 
give me the necessary assistance I want, I say nothing." 

The information of Sumter's movements contained in 
this letter, and no doubt more fully stated by Captain 
Hampton, and of the condition of the British posts by one 

1 Sumter's letters, Nightingale Collection, Tear Book, City of Charles- 
ton, 1899, Appendix, 6-7. These are copies of fifty-seven letters obtained 
in 1894 by the South Carolina Historical Society from Mr. William Night- 
ingale, of Branswick, Georgia, in whose possession the originals were held. 
These letters were published in the Charleston Year Book as above, but 
we regret to say very inaccurately edited. Some of the errors have been 
pointed out in the So. Ca. Historical and Genealogical Magazine, vol. I, 
343—345. They will be referred to as the Nightingale Collection. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 159 

whose intelligence could be so thoroughly relied upon, af- 
forded General Greene the best grounds on which to decide 
as to his future measures.^ How far they suggested or in- 
fluenced his subsequent conduct of the campaign we have 
no means of learning. Whether the course General 
Greene adopted was the outcome of his own thought, or 
was suggested to him by Colonel Lee, has been the subject 
of acrimonious discussion. Colonel Lee, in his Memoirs^ 
without assuming the credit to himself, represents that the 
plan was that of another than Greene. The proposer, he 
says, suggested that, leaving Cornwallis to act as he might 
choose, the army should be led back into South Carolina ; 
that the main body should move upon Camden, while the 
light corps, taking lower direction and joining Marion, 
should break down all intermediate posts, breaking upon 
the communications between Camden and Ninety Six 
with Charlestown, and thus placing the British force in 
South Carolina in a triangle, Camden and Ninety Six form- 
ing the base, insulated as to cooperation and destitute even 
of provisions for any length of time. On the other hand, 
it had been proposed to the general to take a more salu- 
brious and distant position, with Virginia in his rear, and 
there to await his lordship's advance. This was pressed 
upon Greene by influential soldiers around him, who laid it 
down, as a cardinal principle never to be relinquished, or 
even slighted, that the safety of the South hung upon the 
safety of A^irginia, and the sure way to afford to that State 
full protection was to face Cornwallis. They dwelt with 
much emphasis upon the singular fitness of Greene to cope 
with his lordship, as well as the superior capacity of his 
army to contend with that under Cornwallis.^ 

Judge Johnson takes sharp issue with Colonel Lee upon 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 32. 

a Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 315-322. 



160 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

this point, and insists that the idea of the movements back 
into South Carolina originated with Greene himself, and 
claims for him great merit for its conception and execution. 
As a commanding officer is responsible for the result of his 
movement, he is ordinarily entitled to the credit of it if 
successful, whether originating with himself or suggested 
by another. But the evidence is, we think, conclusive that, 
with whomsoever this scheme of campaign did originate, 
it did not originate with General Greene, nor, while adopt- 
ing, did he cordially approve or warmly enter into it.^ 
How far it may have been suggested by the report which 
Wade Hampton had brought from General Sumter of the 
operations of the partisan bands under Sumter, Marion, Pick- 
ens, and Harden, since Greene had left the State, and their 
great success in breaking up the enemy's communications 
between Camden and Charlestown, and thus preparing the 
way for such a movement, can only be conjectured ; but 
certain it is that from Colonel Lee's account the subject 
was one of discussion at headquarters — and upon which 
there were two parties, one urging a retreat to Virginia, 
and the other an advance into South Carolina.^ Dr. 

1 In a note to General Greene, in the " Great Commanders Series," 
231, tlie author says: "Greene consulted Lee concerning his plan of oper- 
ation and probably referred to the second Punic War, and the famous ' car- 
rying the war into Africa.' Lee replied on April 2, ' I am decidedly of 
opinion with you that nothing is left for you but to imitate the example of 
Scipio Africanus.' In his funeral eulogy on Greene, Hamilton says, ' This 
was one of those strokes that denote superior genius and constitute the 
sublime art of war. 'Twas Scipio leaving Hannibal in Italy to overcome 
hira at Carthage.'" But Scipio carried his heart with him into Africa. 
Greene left his in Virginia, where he wished to be confronting Cornwallis. 

2 Major Eggleston, an officer of the Legion, in a letter to Colonel Lee 
dated 10th of June, 1810, writes, " I well recollect that I felt great reluc- 
tance to the movement from Deep River to South Carolina, as I thought 
it leaving our own State [Virginia] exposed to Cornwallis's army, although 
the event proved so fortunate to the cause of America." — Campaigns of 
1781 in the Carolinas (Lee), 242. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION IGl 

Mathew Irvine, a surgeon in the service, states that he 
carried a letter from Colonel Lee, who was then on a forag- 
ing expedition, to General Greene, suggesting and urging 
this movement ; that he was not merely the bearer of the 
letter, but was familiar with its contents and in full posses- 
sion of Colonel Lee's views, with which he was entrusted 
in order that he might urge them upon the general verbally 
in case of loss of the letter.^ 

General Greene followed Colonel Lee's advice, if he did 
not altogether adopt his views. Indeed, a want of final 
decision seems to have been one of the defects of his mind; 
he could never altogether help hankering after the rejected 
alternative :^ and so it was that, throughout the ensuing 
campaign we shall find him turning to and longing for the 
field of Virginia as the proper sphere of operations for the 
Commander of the Southern Department. Nor, after his 
defeat at Hobkirk's Hill, did he hesitate to blame Colonel 
Lee for his advice, and to regret that he had followed it.^ 

1 Garden's Anecdotes, 64. Major Garden, it will be recollected, was 
himself an officer of the Legion, but not at this time. 

2 Kiuglake, in his History of the Crimean War, says of Lord Lucan, 
" He had decision, and decision apparently so complete that his mind never 
hankered after the rejected alternative. " — Vol. II, 380. 

3 The Honorable Peter Johnston of Virginia, Judge of the United 
States District Court, who had been an officer of the Legion, in a letter 
to Major Garden of the 11th of November, 1821, writes: "Nor has he 
[Lee] always done justice to himself. I am perfectly satisfied that the 
grand enterprise for the recovery of South Carolina and Georgia, by 
marching into those states when Lord Cornwallis retreated to Wilming- 
ton after the action at Guilford Court-house, was suggested by Colonel 
Lee. Accident afforded me the view of a letter written by General Greene 
to Colonel Lee immediately after the second battle of Camden, fought on 
the 25th of April, 1781, in which the General expressed a determination to 
abandon the scheme of continuing his progress southwardly, and directed 
Lee to join him immediately with his corps, which had, about that time, 
reduced a post of the enemy at Wright's Bluff on the Santee River. I 
shall never forget one expression in that letter, which goes far to prove 
that I am right in the opinion which I have ever since entertained. * / 

VOL. IV. — M 



162 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Having thus reluctantly determined upon the movement 
to South Carolina, he wrote on the 30th of March to 
Sumter, probably by Hampton, giving an account of his 
movements since the battle of the 15th, and continuing, he 
went on to inform him of his proposed plans : ^ — 

" They [the British] are on the route to Cross Creek, and prob- 
ably will fall down the country as far as Wilmington, but this is 
not certain. The greater part of our militia's term of service being 
out will prevent our further piu'suit, especially as the difficulty is 
very great in proc\u-ing provisions. Indeed, it would be impossible 
to subsist the army in the pine barrens, and as we are obliged to 
halt a day or two to collect provisions at this place, it will give the 
enemy such a start of us as leave no hopes of overtaking them if they 
choose to continue their flight, nor can we fight them upon equal 
terms after our militia leave us. All these considerations have deter- 
mined me to change my route and push directly into South Carolina. 
This will oblige the enemy to give up their prospects in this State or 
their posts in South Carolina, and if our army can be subsisted there 
we can fight them upon as good terms with your aid as we can here. 
I beg you will therefore give orders to Gen'» Pickens and Marion 
to collect all the militia they can to cooperate witli us. But the 
object must be a secret to all except the generals, otherwise the enemy 
will take measures to counteract us. I am in hopes by sending for- 
ward our horse and some small detachments of light infantry to join 
your militia you will be able to possess yourself of all the little out- 
posts before the army arrives. Take measures to collect all the pro- 
visions you can, for on this our whole operation will depend. I 

fear, my friend,' says the general, ' that I have pursued your advice too 
far. I have resolved to march back with the army towards Virginia, and 
desire you will join me with yotir command as soon as possible.'" — 
Charleston City Gazette of the 11th of May, 18ii2. Republished in Lee's 
Campaigns in the Carolinas, 399-401 ; also quoted in Garden's Anecdotes, 
64. " The letter," says Garden (ibid.), " mentioned by Judge Johnston 
was seen also by Dr. Irvine. He states that the general added, ' Although 
I am confident that your wish was to give increase to my military reputa- 
tion, yet it is evident to me that by listening to your advice I have forfeited 
my pretensions to it forever.''" 

1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 85. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 163 

expect to be ready to march in about five days, and perhaps we may be 
in the neighborhood of Camden by the 20th of next month or earlier." 

In this letter it is said that Greene sedulously inculcated 
secrecy, and enjoined that his purpose should be com- 
municated to none but his generals,^ that Sumter was the 
only officer in the Southern country to whom General 
Greene confided his intention of penetrating into South 
Carolina prior to his actual movement ;^ and the implication 
is pointed that Sumter was in some way responsible that 
the secret was divulged. Colonel Lee, however, states that 
before Greene's departure from Deep River he had commu- 
nicated his plans to Pickens as well.^ And Ramsay asserts 
the same.'* He certainly did so to Marion. 

It was on the 7th of April that he broke up his camp 
at Ramsay's Mill, on Deep River, and commenced his 
march to South Carolina.^ Three days before, that is, on 
the 4th, he writes to Marion from his camp on Deep 
River.^ 

" This will be handed to you by Cap' Conyers, who will inform 
you what we have contemplated. He is sent forward to collect 
provisions for the subsistence of the army, and I beg you will assist 
him in this necessary business. The army will march to-morrow, and 
I hope you will be prepared to support its operation with a consider- 
able force. General Sumter is written to, and I doubt not will be 
prepared to cooperate with us, etc." 

Nor only SO. The day that he commenced his march he sent 
on Major Hyrne in advance with a letter requesting Sum- 
ter to inform that officer of what he might expect from him 
in the way of assistance.^ Colonel Davie, Colonel Carring- 
ton, and Captain Singleton of the general's staff were all 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 34. a Ibid., 68. 

» Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 325. 

* Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 227. 

' Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 44. 

« Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 48. '' Sumter MSS. 



164 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

informed of his purpose, ^ as doubtless was necessary and 
proper. So far, therefore, from Sumter being the only 
officer in the Southern country informed of Greene's pur- 
pose, not only were Marion and Pickens also directly 
informed of it, but several subordinate officers as well. If 
Greene's plans were divulged, it is unjust therefore to 
charge Sumter with the fault on the ground that to him 
alone they had been confided. In the condition of the 
country it was impossible that any such hopes as Greene 
indulged as to the secrecy of his movements could have 
been realized. Sumter's critic. Judge Johnson, himself 
gives the reason. " The country," he says, " from which 
he had marched and that through which he had marched, 
was too much infested with Loyalists to admit of his mak- 
ing a single movement unobserved. Runners from the 
Tories had preceded him six days, and long enough to 
enable the commander of the garrison at Camden, Lord 
Rawdon, to summon to his aid a considerable body of Loyal- 
ists and recruits under Major Frasier, from the banks of the 
Saluda and Broad rivers ; and to his great mortification 
Greene found that the garrison of Camden was fully equal 
to the force he had brought against it. Still, however, he 
advanced, bent on an attempt to carry the post by assault, 
when, on reconnoitring, he found that his force was wholly 
inadequate to the purpose." ^ 

It will be recollected that there had already been a jar 
between Greene and Sumter, because of orders given to 
Sumter's command without communicating them to or 
through him ; that Sumter had resented thus being passed 
over and ignored, and had complained of it both to General 
Greene and Governor Rutledge. Upon setting out to 
Philadelphia, Governor Rutledge, it will also be remem- 
bered, had again left Sumter in command of all the militia of 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 07. ^ /ftj^?., 45, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 165 

the State, enjoining upon both Marion and Pickens their obe- 
dience to him, and requiring that all communications from 
them should be sent under cover to Sumter, which Sumter 
should forward under cover to General Greene. The gov- 
ernor had thus left, as he hoped, matters in such order as 
to prevent any friction in the future between these officers. 
Marion, it has, however, been seen, had paid very little atten- 
tion to these instructions, and Sumter had again had cause 
to complain of the neglect of his authority. Greene's 
course now tended to aggravate this trouble. In his letter 
of the 30th he had expressly put the preparatory move- 
ments in South Carolina into Sumter's hands. He had 
written, " / heg you ivill therefore give orders to Gfenerah 
Pickens and Marion to collect all the militia they can to 
cooperate with ms." The object was to be kept secret to 
all but the generals. "I am in hopes," he wrote, "that 
by sending forward our horse and some small detach- 
ments of light infantry to join your militia you will be able 
to possess yourself of their little outposts before the army 
arrives." 

Sumter undoubtedly had a right to regard himself under 
this letter, independently of his command of all the militia, 
as charged with the movements in South Carolina before 
the arrival of Greene with his army. This supposition 
must have been further confirmed upon the arrival of 
Major Hyrne with another letter from Greene, of the 7th of 
April, saying, " This will be handed you by Major Hyrne, 
who has been kind enough to come on before the army, 
which is on the march for South Carolina, to see and con- 
sult with you respecting the force you are likely to collect 
to aid our operations." ^ 

Acting upon this supposition, Sumter appears to have 

1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 8(), 
87. 



1G6 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

entered eagerly into the general's plans. He wrote on 
the 9tli, at once, in reply: ^ — 

"... Thvxrsday next I should have had five hundred ten-months 
men in the field, chiefly so well mounted as to perform tolerable 
service, and from the activity of the enemy & indiscression (?) of 
our militia, I think all the men that can by any j ustifiable method 
be procured will not be too many. 

" Gen' Pickens men are much scattered. He will have but few 
out, that is, in any short time. I expect four or five hundred will be 
ready to join you out of Gen' Marions brigade. I have requested 
him to take a position high up Black river if it can be done with safety, 
to prevent the enemy from foraging that way to have as much provision 
as possible provided. . . . 

" Nothing in the summit of power shall be neglected that may in 
the least tend to further your operations against the enemy." 

As it became a matter of much discussion thereafter as 
to the number of men Sumter had promised to bring to the 
support of Greene, it is well now to observe that Sumter in 
this letter reports that he will have five hundred ten-months 
men in the field, capable of tolerable service, and that he 
expected four or five hundred would be ready to join out 
of Marion's brigade. From Pickens he could hope for but 
few. All that Sumter hoped that he could get were one 
thousand men, including Marion's. This letter Greene re- 
ceived, probably by Major Hyrne. On the 14th he wrote 
to Sumter : — 

" I received your letter dated the seventh instant and am happy to 
understand that our plan of operations agrees with your sentiments. 
You will collect your force with all possible speed and endeavor to 
take a position a,< mentioned by you to Major Hyrne where you may be 
enabled to cut off or intercept the communication between Camden 

1 Nighthigale Collection, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1800, Appen- 
dix, 7-8. This letter was undoubtedly received by Greene, for it is found 
among his papers, now in the possession of Mr. Nightingale, but its receipt 
is not acknowledged. Greene on the 14th acknowledges a letter of the 
7th which is not found among his papers. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 167 

and the otiier posts of the enemy, keeping it in your power to cooper- 
ate with or join this command should the movements of Lord Corn- 
wallis render such measures necessary," etc.^ 

Sumter, it is thus seen, was not only put in charge of the 
movement, but his phm of it was accepted. What must 
have been his surprise and mortification, then, to learn that 
the " horse and some small detachments of light infantry " 
which had promised to join his militia so as to enable him 
to take the outposts of the enemy, without his knowledge 
or any notification to him, had been sent forward as early as 
tlie 4th of April, not to him — but to Marion? Was it to 
be supposed that Sumter, with his quick and impetuous 
temper, would not have resented such trifling with his 
confidence and disregard alike of the assurances given 
him and of his authority as Marion's commanding officer? 

It has been charged by Colonel Lee that General Greene 
expected to be joined b}'^ General Sumter before Camden ; 
but that Sumter held off, much to the surprise, regret, and 
dissatisfaction of the General-in-chief, and very much to 
the detriment of his plans and measures.^ And, strange to 
say, Johnson countenances this charge in a summary of the 
grounds of complaint which Greene entertained against 
Sumter,^ forgetting, apparently, that in previous pages he 
had himself shown how unwarranted were these jealousies 
of Sumter's conduct.^ Colonel Lee himself had undoubt- 
edly been misled by General Greene as to the force Sumter 
had undertaken to raise. On the 10th of April the General 
had written to Lee, then on his march to join Marion, 
"General Sumter will have one thousand men to join us." ^ 

1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 87, 88. 

2 Mevioirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 333. 
8 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 212. 

* Ibid., 107-109. 

^ Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 51. 



168 HISTOliY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

But Johnson shows that in this Greene had made a great 
mistake. He says that it was on Hyrne's report and Sum- 
ter's letter of the 7th that General Greene founded his ex- 
pectation that Sumter would be able to bring one thousand 
men into the field; but that, on comparing the two docu- 
ments, it is found that, while they agree as to the number, 
in Sumter's letter four or five hundred of the one thousand 
are expressly made to consist of the men to be brought out 
under Marion and five hundred of his own brigade.^ Sumter 
hoped to have this number of the ten-months men he was 
attempting to raise on the bounty of a prime negro per 
man, for which purpose he had his best officers actively 
engaged in procuring enlistments in both States along the 
Catawba. Hyrne's report says, " General Sumter expects 
by Monday (the 18th) to have upwards of two hundred 
ten-months men from South Carolina, and three hundred 
from North Carolina ; these are immediately to join the 
militia, who will amount to about five hundred, and pro- 
ceed down the country," but makes no mention of four or 
five hundred expected under Marion. ^ Greene, apparently 
without observing the discrepancy between Sumter's own 
letter and Hyrne's report, or that Plyrne's report did not 
mention Marion, assumed, against the expressed statement 
of Sumter's letter of the 7th, that Sumter promised himself 
to bring one thousand men to his assistance. Not only 
counting upon this himself, he writes it to Lee. Hyrne 
had also anticipated by two the day upon which Sumter 
had fixed as the time when he hoped to have this reenforce- 
ment. Promising the most zealous cooperation, Sumter 
did not express a hope that he would be able to take the 
field before the 20th. Opposition, it seems, was made to 
his enlisting men in North Carolina, j^rofessedly on the 
ground of its interfering with the draft then going on in 
Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 107. ^ Ibid. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 169 

that State, but really, as Sumter asserted, because it raised 
the price of substitutes. Greene was no doubt disappointed 
by not receiving earlier support from Sumter, but Johnson 
admits that no suggestion of a suspicion can be found that 
it was not as sensibly felt by Sumter himself. 

We would call attention here, again, as we may have still 
further occasion to do, to the extraordinary mistake or mis- 
conception of Greene, exhibited again and again during his 
campaign, in failing to recognize and appreciate the con- 
dition of affairs in South Carolina, and Sumter's position 
and power. From his first entry into the State he persisted 
in treating Sumter as having the power to bring out as 
many men as he desired, as if he had a settled government 
behind him through which he could draft militia and en- 
force the attendance of those drafted to the army ; whereas, 
the fact was, that there was no government in South Caro- 
lina at the time, and that it was only through the personal 
influence of Sumter, Marion, Pickens, and other leaders, 
appealing to the patriotism of the Whigs, that these could 
be brought into the field, and then only as volunteers and 
not as drafted men. It was impossible, therefore, for Sumter 
to undertake or promise to furnish any given number of 
men, and it is strange indeed that Greene should have sup- 
posed that he did so, and counted upon them as he claims 
to have done. 

So, too, with regard to provisions. Greene had solicited 
Sumter to take measures to collect all that he could, for on 
this his whole operations would depend; and Sumter had 
made every endeavor to do so through the officers who com- 
manded where the provisions were sought, but he constantly 
declared, as was unquestionably the fact, that all the pro- 
visions were within the enemy's lines. ^ 

Although disappointed greatly in the number of men 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 108. 



170 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and the provisions he expected to collect, Sumter actually 
commenced operations by the time he had promised. It 
has been charged that, instead of descending between the 
Broad and Catawba rivers, he moved down beyond the 
Broad River.^ Upon what this criticism is based it is dif- 
ficult to understand, as there was no outpost to attack 
between these rivers, and it is certain that Sumter was 
never ordered to form a junction with Greene prior to 
the affair at Camden.^ The position he was to take was 
determined upon in consultation between Hyrne and him- 
self, and was doubtless that mentioned with approval by 
Greene in a letter to Lee of the 10th of April, as "a 
position between Camden and Ninety Six about thirty 
miles from the former."^ From this post Sumter soon 
swept the country between the Broad and the Saluda, as 
well as between the Broad and the Wateree. 

We left Marion, it will be remembered, after the affair 
at Witherspoon's Ferry, on the point of retreating into 
North Carolina for the want of ammunition, a step which 
had only been arrested by the news of the approach of 
Colonel Lee, the advance of General Greene, upon his 
return to South Carolina. While Marion was in the great- 
est despondency from this cause, and about to retreat to 
North Carolina, one Johnson, an old tried Whig, came into 
the camp in an almost starving condition, begging for 
God's sake for something to eat. A pot of cold rice was 
put before him, and when his hunger was somewhat 
allayed he was asked the news. " Fine news," said he ; 
" I saw a great number of Continental troops, horse and 
foot, crossing at Long Bluff." " Come, tell the general," 
said Captain Gavin Witherspoon. " No," replied the Whig. 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 212. 

2 Ihid., 109. 

' Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 61. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 171 

" I am starving with hunger ; if the general wants the news, 
he must come to me." The general soon complied, and 
going to the hungry, but true and tried, bearer of the good 
tidings, he soon satisfied liimself of the truth of the infor- 
mation. The news, says James, was sudden and unex- 
pected, and to men now in a state of desperation nothing 
could be more transporting — scarce was there a dry eye. 
All sufferings appeared now to be at an end, and that balra 
of the soul, hope, began to revive. Even while Johnson 
was still communicating his intelligence, it was confirmed 
by the sound of an approaching drum.^ Lieutenant-Colonel 
Lee, when within a day's march of the Pee Dee, had de- 
spatched a small party of dragoons under Captain Conyers 
to find Marion. By Conyers, Marion received Greene's 
letter ordering him to cooperate with Lee in striking at the 
posts below Camden. Marion received Lee's officer with 
joy, and furnished boats, which he had kept concealed on 
the Pee Dee, for the transportation of his corps across the 
river. On the 14th of April Lee joined the general. 

Colonel Watson, it will be remembered, upon Sumter's 
retreat to the Waxhaws in ]\larch, had been sent by Lord 
Rawdon with his own regiment and Harrison's Tories, 
numbering in all about five hundred men, to crush out 
Marion. This, however, he had not accomplished. On 
the contrary, Marion had assumed the offensive, and had 
fought him at Wiboo Swamp, Mount Hope, and Black 
River, and had finally driven him into Georgetown. Hav- 
ing refreshed himself at Georgetown, Watson had pro- 
ceeded again towards the Pee Dee. He had taken the 
nearest route, across Black River at Wragg's Ferry, the 
Pee Dee at Euhany, and the Little Pee Dee at Potatobed 
Ferry, and had halted at Catfish Creek, a mile from where 
the town of Marion now stands. Here Gainey's party 
1 James's Life of Marion, 107. 



172 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

flocked to him in such numbers that he was soon nine hun- 
dred strong.i Leaving Captain Witherspoon with a small 
party to watch Watson, Marion and Lee moved through 
Williamsburg and took position in the open country with 
Watson to their left, considerably below them, and on the 
route for the fort at Wright's Bluff, called by his name. 
But Watson, having learned of Lee's approach through 
Captain John Brockington, a noted Tory, about the same 
time as Johnson, the Whig, had informed Marion, had 
immediately rolled his two field-pieces into Catfish Creek, 
destroyed all his heavy baggage, recrossed the Little 
Pee Dee, and not venturing by the route he came, he 
crossed the Waccamaw, and retreating between that river 
and the sea, crossed Winyaw Bay three miles west, and 
then returned again to Georgetown.^ 

Upon the junction with Colonel Lee, Marion proposed 
to pursue Watson, and if unable to capture him, at least to 
prevent his junction with Lord Rawdon ; but Lee was of 
opinion that the pursuit would carry them too far from 
General Greene, who was marching upon Camden. Marion 
gave up the movement with great reluctance, and was 
afterwards heard repeatedly to regret that his orders had 
not allowed him to pursue it. A great consideration, 
however, against Marion's plan and in favor of another, 
was the fact that both Lee and himself were in great want 
of ammunition, and an opportunity presented itself of sup- 
plying themselves in this particular from Fort Watson, 
into which, it will be remembered, the supply obtained by 
Sumter in IMarch had been taken through the treachery of 
a guide. Fort Watson was known to be otherwise well 
supplied in this essential article, and was now with but 
a small garrison in the absence of its commander, who 
had retreated to Georgetown. Still another advantage pre- 
1 James's Life of Ilarion, 108. 2 juid., 106. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 173 

sented itself to a movement against the fort instead of a 
pursuit of the commander, and that was that at the fort 
they would be on the road by which Watson was expected 
to move to rejoin Lord Rawdon — there being then no 
road from Kingstree to Camden.^ 

In the estimate of one thousand men which Sumter had 
reported to General Greene he hoped to raise to join him, 
he had counted upon Marion's having from four to five 
hundred ; but so far from this, so many of Marion's men 
had gone home to rest and to plant their croj)s, after 
the operations against Doyle and Watson, that he was 
reduced to but eighty men when Lee joined him.^ Lee's 
Legion corps numbered about three hundred horse and 
foot.^ The combined force thus numbered about 380. 
Marion's men were, however, coming in one or two at a 
time. With this force the two leaders determined to carry 
Fort Watson without delay, and sat down before it early 
in the evening of the 15th of April, not doubting from 
their information that the garrison must soon be compelled 
to surrender for want of water, with which it was only sup- 
plied from Lake Scott, and from which it might be readily 
and effectively excluded. The garrison consisted of about 
eighty regular troops and forty Loyalists, under the com- 
mand of a brave and efScient officer. Lieutenant James 
McKay.* Fort Watson, as the post at Wright's Bluff was 
called, from which Sumter had lately been repulsed, was 
an Indian mound at least thirty feet high, surrounded by 
a plain table-land and far removed from any ground that 
could command it. In a very few hours the customary 
mode of obtaining water was completely stopped, and had 

1 James's Life of Marion, 109. 

2 Ibid. 

8 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 333. 
* Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 70. 



174 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the information upon which Marion and Lee acted been 
correct, a surrender of the garrison could not long have 
been delayed. But McKay was an officer of resource as 
well as of courage, and he immediately cut a trench secured 
by abatis from his fosse to the river which passed close to 
the Indian mound. Neither party possessed artiller^^ and 
the steep sides of the mound and strong palisades forbade 
an attempt at storming it. Marion and Lee had nothing 
else to do, therefore, but to sit down to an investment of the 
place and thus lose most precious time. 

Greene, in the meanwhile, had broken up his camp at 
Ramsay's Mill on Deep River in North Carolina, and 
advanced on Camden, and on the 19th of April had taken 
post at Hobkirk's Hill, about a mile and a half in advance 
of the British redoubts. Marion, fearing that he would 
not be able to carry the fort without artillery, and learning 
of Greene's arrival, sent an urgent request that a piece 
should be forwarded to him. Greene, it will be remem- 
bered, had lost all of his artillery at Guilford, but he had 
since received two pieces, and one of them he resolved to 
forward to Marion, but the fort had been reduced before 
the piece was on the road. 

While Marion and Lee were impatiently waiting for the 
field-piece Colonel Maham, one of Marion's officers,^ sug- 
gested a plan which led to the immediate reduction of the 
place. At King's Mountain the underbrush at the foot of 
the mountain concealed tlie Americans, while the bare rock 
on the top exposed the enemy to the unerring aim of 
the mountaineer's rifle. But here the case was reversed. 
The open plain afforded no shelter for Marion's marksmen, 
while the stockade and abatis protected the British upon 
the mound, and enabled them to fire upon the Americans 

^ See this oflScer mentioned, Hist, of So. Ca. in the lievolution, 1775- 
80 (McCrady), 144, 298. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 175 

with security. To counteract this advantage Colonel Ma- 
ham proposed to build up a tower of logs which would 
overtop the mound, and from this to fire into the stockade 
on the mound. This suggestion was at once adopted. 
There was an abundance of timber in the neighborhood 
of the fort, and axes were obtained from the neighboring 
farms. During the night trees were felled and were borne 
on the shoulders of the men, and piled crosswise until a 
tower higher than the mound was raised. To the aston- 
ishment of the besieged, as soon as light permitted the 
discrimination of an object, the fatal effect of a shower of 
bullets announced to them that their stronghold was com- 
manded by a superior work. A detachment of Marion's 
men under Ensign Baker Johnson and of the Continentals 
under Mr. Lee, a volunteer in the Legion, then made a 
lodgement near the stockade, and began to pull down the 
abatis and to dig away at the mound itself. Such was the 
effect of the fire of the riflemen upon the tower, having 
complete command of every part of the fort, that the 
besieged found it impossible to resist the lodgement effected 
by the attacking party. Lieutenant McKay, who had so 
gallantly held out for eight days, then hoisted a white flag, 
and the garrison capitulated. The American loss was two 
of Marion's men killed and three wounded, and three 
Continentals wounded.^ Far beyond the prisoners taken 
was the value of the arms, and especially ammunition, 
secured in the fall of the post, which included the arms and 
ammunition Sumter had taken, but had lost by the treach- 
ery of his guide. 

From Georgetown, to which place Watson had retreated 
upon the junction of Marion and Lee, the most practicable 
route to Camden, where he should now proceed to reeu- 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 331-332 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, 
vol. II, 70 ; James's Life of Marion, 109-110. 



176 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

force Lord Rawdon, was by crossing the north and south 
branches of the San tee River and advancing up the south- 
west bank of that river to Nelson's Ferry, and thence by 
the ordinary route up the east bank of the Congaree and 
Wateree to Camden. But Marion and Lee now stood at 
Fort Watson to dispute the passage of Nelson's Ferry. 
By coming to the assistance of McKay, Watson might have 
compelled the raising of the siege of Fort Watson, and 
have forced his way on this the direct road to Camden. 
But this he did not think the state of the force with him 
sufficient to justify, and rather determined to sacrifice the 
post and to evade Marion in his attempt to reach Camden. 
After crossing the Santee on the route from Georgetown, 
therefore, he moved down by Monck's Corner and cau- 
tiously advanced. Relieved of the siege of the fort and 
supplied with ammunition, Marion moved, on the 23d, to 
the High Hills of Santee, and occupied a position from 
which all the roads that led to Camden could be securely 
watched. From this place he pushed forward his pris- 
oners by the Black River road to the depot in rear of 
Greene's army. This movement of Marion towards Cam- 
den brought on the battle of Hobkirk's Hill. 

Johnson asserts that from the time of this junction until 
the siege of Fort Motte, Colonel Lee acted under the com- 
mand of General Marion. ^ This Mr. Henry Lee, in his 
work in answer to the judge, denies, and ridicules the 
idea that the commander of the Legion — a Continental 
lieutenant colonel should be outranked by a militia gen- 
eral, especially by one holding his commission from Gov- 
ernor Rutledn^e duringf the interregnum of Carolina.^ The 

1 Johnson's Life of Cfreene, vol. II, GO. 

2 Campaigns of 1781 in the Carolinas (H. Lee), Review of Johnson's 
Life of Greene, 249, 250. In point of fact Marion, though now acting 
under his commission of brigadier general of State militia, was actually 



IN THE REVOLUTION 177 

fact, nevertheless, appears to be as stated by Johnson. In 
a letter of the 28th of April General Greene writes to 
Marion, informing him of the result of the action of Hob- 
kirk's Hill, making light of his repulse and saying, " You 
will cross the river Santee, or detach Lieutenant- Colonel Lee,, 
and direct your force as information and circumstances may 
direct." ^ And in a letter of the next day to Lee himself, 
appended by Mr. Lee to his reply to Judge Johnson, he 
repeats, "In my letter to General Marion last evening I 
desired him either to detach you, or cross the Santee with 
you as he might think advisable.'''' ^ It may have been, as 
Lee asserts, that he was by his own request under Marion. 
But under him he undoubtedly was. Marion, as com- 
pared with Sumter, was Greene's favorite, though in his 
private correspondence Greene was accustomed to sneer at 
both. While constantly criticising Sumter, for Marion he 
had, to him, only words of praise. 

" When I consider," he writes to Marion on the 24th of April, " how 
much you have done and suffered, and under what disadvantages you 
have maintained your ground, I am at a loss which to admire most, 
your courage and fortitude, or your address and management. .Certain 
it is no man has a better claim to the public thanks or is more gen- 
erally admired than you are. History affords no instance wherein an 
officer has kept possession of a country under so many disadvantages 
as you have ; surrounded on every side with a superior force, hunted 
from every quarter with veteran troops, you have found means to elude 

still a lieutenant colonel in the Continental line, and as such two years 
the senior of Lee, and thus ranked him in that line. 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), Gl. 

2 Campaigns of 1781, Appendix C. In a letter of General Greene of 
the 16th of January, 1782, written to General Marion upon the subject of a 
legionary corps then raised by Maham, he says, "Lee's Legion is fre- 
quently under particular officer's command according to the nature of the 
service." This must refer to the command of Sumter, Marion, or Pick- 
ens, for under no other officer, except Laurens, was it ever so put ; but 
it was put at different times under each of these officers. 

VOL. IV. — N 



178 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

all their attempts, and to keep alive the expiring hopes of an op- 
pressed militia when all succor seemed to be cut off. To fight the 
enemy bravely with a prospect of victory is nothing, but to fight with 
intrepidity under the constant impression of defeat, and to inspire 
irregular troops to do so, is a talent peculiar to yourself. Nothing will 
give me greater pleasure than to do justice to your merit, and I shall 
miss no opportunity of declaring to Congress, the Commander-in-chief 
of the American army, and to the world in general, the great sense 1 
have of your merit and services." ^ 

He writes on the 24th, to Marion, that history affords no 
instance "vvherein an officer had kept possession of a coun- 
try under so many disadvantages as he had — hunted from 
every quarter with veteran troops, he had found the means to 
elude all their attempts, and to keep alive the expiring hopes 
of an oppressed militia when all succor seemed to be cut off. 
He assures Marion that he will miss no opportunity of de- 
claring to Congress, the Commander-in-chief of the Ameri- 
can army, and to the world in general, the great sense he 
had of Marion's merits and services. General Greene had 
just had an opportunity of informing the Commander-in- 
chief, General Washington, of what Marion had dared and 
accomplished, and of declaring to Congress through his 
Excellency his great sense of Marion's merit and services, 
and this is the way in which he had done so. Two daj's 
before he wrote to Marion, i.e. on the 22d, he had written 
to Washington : ^ — 

"The conflict may continue for some time longer; and Generals 
Sumter and Marion, and many others, deserve great credit for their 
exertions and perseverance, but their endeavors rather seem to keep 
the contest alive, than lay any foundation for the recovery of these 
States." 

Would Marion have considered this lukewarm and in- 
different report to Washington what he had a right to sup- 

1 Gibbes's Docnmentarij Hist. (1781-82), 59. 
'^ Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 92. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 179 

pose from Greene's letter to him that Greene would have 
made ? To Marion he recognizes that that partisan officer 
had kept possession of the country under circumstances of 
which he extravagantly says history affords no parallel- 
To Washington he reports with faint praise that Sumter 
and Marion were good and brave men, but that their efforts 
accomplished nothing but to keep the contest alive ! 

The letter to Washington was written on the 22d, two 
days before the letter to Marion. The battle of Hobkirk's 
Hill was fought and lost on the 25th. A few days after, i.e. 
on May 4th, in one of his voluminous communications to 
his friend. Governor Reed of Pennsylvania, he is more un- 
guarded in his language, and instead of taking this oppor- 
tunity — so favorable a one of reaching the ears of Congress 
— of extolling Marion, his faint praise to Washington degen- 
erates into little less than complaint and disparagement.^ 

" You frequently hear," he writes, " of great things from Generals 
Marion and Sumter. These are brave and good officers ; but the people 
with them just come and go as they please. These parties rather 
seem to keep the dispute alive than lay any foundation for the recov- 
ery of the country. Don't be deceived in your expectations from this 
quarter ; if greater support cannot be given for the recovery of these 
States, they must and will remain in the hands of the enemy." 

This is the version of the letter of the 4th of May given 
by Johnson, in the text of his life and correspondence of 
Greene ; but there is another letter of the same date to the 
same person, given by Gordon in his work on the American 
war,2 or another version of the same letter, in which Greene 
is still more disparaging. He writes : — 

"Generals Marion and Sumpter have a few people who adhere to 
them, perhaps more from a desire and the opportunity of plundering 
than from any inclination to promote the independence of the United 

States." 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 88. 

2 Gordon's Am. Revolution, vol. IV, 88. 



180 IIISTOIIY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Judge Johnson, in a subsequent part of his work in which 
he is engaged in defending Greene's character from the 
imputation of a connection with Mr. Banks's fraudulent 
speculations, in a note is compelled to admit the genuine- 
ness of this latter version; but does not account for the 
version which he had previously given in the body of his 
work. He says that he has looked into the original corre- 
spondence, and found that there was actually such a passage 
as that quoted by Gordon.^ A possible solution of the 
matter is that the passage given by Johnson in the body of 
his work was from the first draft retained by Greene, and 
that found among Governor Reed's papers and quoted 
by Gordon, the letter as actually written out and sent 
by Greene. Certain it is that the letter in its most objec- 
tionable form was that actually sent to Governor Reed, for 
it was found among his papers after his death. Judge 
Johnson endeavors to defend Greene from the apparent in- 
sincerity of his correspondence in this matter by observing 
that this was a private letter to Governor Reed, not intended 
for publication, and only published by the indiscretion of 
Gordon. 2 That may be so, but Governor Reed was a per- 
son of large influence near Congress, whose personal views 
would have great weight, and, indeed, it was because of 
this fact that Greene was so assiduous in his voluminous 
correspondence with him. He was Greene's mouthpiece at 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 436. 

2 This may be true, but was Judge Johnson aware that Gordon was 
assisted in the commencement of the preparation of his work by General 
Greene himself ? Prof. Edward Channing, in Winsor's Narrative and 
Critical IIist07-y, vol. VI, 518, says: "The most valuable history of the 
Revolution from a British pen is Gordon's well-known work. This author 
was assisted by Gates and Greene so far as the Southern campaigns was 
concerned." See this quoted by Grin Grant Libby, Ph.D., in Ann. Be- 
port Am. Hist. Ass., 1899, vol. I, 368. General Greene died, however, it 
should be remembered, June 19, 1786, two years before Gordon's work 
was published. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 181 

the seat of government. Was this letter consistent with 
Greene's voluntary promise to testify to Washington and 
to Congress of the great work Marion had accomplished? 

Gordon's work on the Revolution, as it happened, 
appeared in 1788, and Sumter, who had just then been 
elected a member of the first Congress under the Constitu- 
tion, in a circular to his constituents on the 24th of August, 
1789, concludes with this paragraph : ^ — 

" The following is an abstract of a letter from General Greene to 
Governor Reed of Pennsylvania dated May, 1781, taken from Gordon's 
history of America just published, ' Generals Marion and Sunipter 
have a few people who adhere to them, perhaps more from a desire 
and opportunity of plunder than from any inclination to promote the 
independence of the United States.' View this and suppress your 
indignation if you can 1 " 

Sumter was also a member of the House of Representa- 
tives in the Second Congress, in 1792, when upon the 
petition of General Greene's widow for indemnity of his 
estate on matters growing out of the Banks affair, he was 
present to pronounce these letters of Greene to Washing- 
ton and Governor Reed as "gross calumnies on and mis- 
representations of the character of the people."^ 

1 Johnson's Life of Crveene, vol. II, 437. 

2 Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, vol. I, 341. It cannot be 
understood that in this charge against the followers of Sumter and Marion, 
General Greene was alluding to the system of pay in spoil upon which 
Sumter was attempting to organize regiments of State troops upon the 
basis of regulars, (1) because that scheme was inaugurated with Greene's 
own concurrence and approval (See his instructions to Sumter of 17th of 
May, 1781, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 101-102), (2) 
because at the date of the letter it had not yet gone into actual operation 
at all, (3) because it never w^as adopted by Marion in his brigade, and 
(4) because Greene's own immediate army was practically living upon the 
same means, i.e. spoils taken from the Tories and impressments from the 
Whigs. Indeed, we shall see him refusing to return horses belonging to 
Whigs recaptured by his men, under the specious plea of the doctrine of 
postliminium, and appropriating them to the use of his officers. 



CHAPTER VIII 

1781 

Breaking up his camp at Ramsay's Mill on the 7th of 
April, the day after he had despatched Lee to Marion, 
Greene sent off all the stores that could be spared from 
present demands on the route by Salisbury to the head of 
the Catawba ; and, crossing the Deep River, he made a day's 
march, as if following Cornwallis, then, taking the first 
convenient road to the right, he advanced directly upon 
Camden. The route which he pursued crosses the Pee 
Dee River below the mouth of Rocky River, and passing 
through Anson County in North Carolina and the eastern 
part of Lancaster in South Carolina, crosses the branches 
of Lynch's Creek some miles above their confluence. The 
distance to Camden was about 130 miles, the country poor 
and exhausted, yet such was the perseverance with which 
his march was urged that, although delayed at the Pee Dee 
for want of boats full four daj^s, on the 19th the American 
general made his appearance before Camden.^ 

On the road General Greene received a communication 
from Sumter by Captain McBee, telling him that a party 
of the enemy, numbering about 150 horse and foot, from 
Camden, had made a raid into the Waxhaws, burnt the 
meeting-house and several other houses, barns, etc., killed, 
wounded, and taken several persons, and plundered the set- 
tlement, carrying off horses; that he had at once detached 
Colonels Hampton and Taylor after them, but did not ex- 

1 Johnson's Life of Oreene, vol. II, 44. 

182 




I7.F Co /•/'o u Bo'i^J-Sc. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 183 

pect that they would be able to overtake them. He also 
reported that he had just received accounts from General 
Pickens that he had collected a few men of his brigade, and 
also a few Georgians, but was unable to attempt anything 
against the enemy ; that he had ordered four of his regi- 
ments to join Pickens, and had requested him to move 
down and take position upon Tyger River near Fishdam 
ford, to cover the country and collect provisions ; that he 
had just learned from Captain McBee, the bearer of the 
letter he was writing, that, with the men of the four regi- 
ments he had detached and sent to him, Pickens was mov- 
ing upwards, which, if with the design to take them to the 
Savannah, would weaken him considerably, but that he 
had written to General Pickens, telling him of the measures 
necessary in consequence of his (Greene's) movements 
towards Camden, and that he did not think Pickens would 
go far — however, he expected to have near the number in 
the field he had mentioned to Major Hyrne ; he missed 
his four regiments he had sent to Pickens, but intended to 
form a junction of all that were embodied on Tuesday next 
(which would be the 17th of April). ^ This letter was 
handed by Captain McBee to General Greene on the 15th, 
who at once replied that he was on his way to Camden, 
where he expected to arrive in four or five days; that 
Lieutenant-Colonel Lee was on his march from the Pee Dee 
to the Santee, and would cross that river somewhere near 
Nelson's Ferry and come up on the other side ; and sug- 
gested that perhaps Sumter might make his movements 
cooperate with Lee's, and also with Pickens's. He charged 
him, however, to bear in mind that their whole force when 
collected was very small, and that he should not lose sight 
of a junction should Lord Cornwallis move that way; if 

1 Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appen- 
dix, 8-9. 



184 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Lord Comwallis did not, and if the garrison at Camden 
was not well supplied with provisions, it must fall in a few 
days; that was his hope, for he had no battery cannon and 
too few troops to warrant a storm of the post. He charged 
Sumter to give him constant intelligence of his force and 
situation, as matters might grow very critical by and by.^ 

Upon his arrival before Camden, General Greene at once 
wrote to Sumter that he had taken a position three miles 
from the town, that the country was barren and promised no 
hope of support : he depended entirely on him for supplies, 
corn and meal ; both these articles were immediately wanted, 
and unless Sumter could furnish them it would be impos- 
sible for him to keep his position ; he wished very much to 
know Sumter's situation, and how he had disposed of him- 
self to cooperate with his army in any particular emer- 
gency .^ Four days after, that is, on the 23d, he wrote 
again, mentioning his former letter, to which he had received 
no answer, and expressing the fear that it had fallen into 
the hands of the Tories. He had since, he went on to say, 
carefully examined the fortifications of the place, and found 
them much superior to what he had expected; that the 
garrison was likewise stronger, and that he had the morti- 
fication yesterday to learn that the South Carolina Royalists 
had the day before thrown themselves into the place, com- 
ing from Ninety Six ; that he was too weak in numbers to 
invest the place, and must depend upon him to secure him 
on the quarter from Ninety Six and Charlestown on the 
west side of the Wateree, while Marion did so on the east 
side from Georgetown and Charlestown. He mentioned 
that Marion and Lee were at Nelson's Ferry, and had 
closely invested the fort at that place, but for want of 
cannon he was afraid they would fail of taking it.^ 

1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1890, Apjiendix, 88-90. 
2 Ibid. 8 Ibid.., 90-91. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 185 

By Greene's letter of instructions to Sumter of the 15th, 
the latter was to cooperate with Marion and Lee at Nel- 
son's Ferry, as well as with Pickens from the neighborhood 
of Ninety Six. On the 25th, the day the battle of Hob- 
kirk's Hill was fought, but of which Sumter knew nothing, 
he writes to Greene reporting his operations under his 
instructions. His movements, he wrote, had been very 
slow, and he feared attended with many disadvantages ; 
the militia were coming in tolerably well ; he had a num- 
ber of wagons coming down, and he expected to be joined 
by three more well-appointed troops from North Carolina. 
As he found delay unavoidable, he had marched into the 
Mobley and Sandy Run (Tory) settlements with a view of 
harassing the enemy, which had effectually been done, and 
he hoped would give relief to their friends in that neigh- 
borhood. Some small skirmishes had taken place ; he had 
lost no men ; several of the enemy had fallen and many 
others had been taken prisoners ; upon the whole they had 
been pretty well scourged. He would send some large 
parties into the Dutch Fork to clear that place, and call out 
the well-disposed inhabitants, and then march with all speed 
for the Congaree. He had detached Colonel Hampton to 
the Wateree with a few wagons for provisions, if any could 
be found, to be sent to Greene. Hampton would also keep 
small parties of the enemy from going into and coming 
out of Camden. Pickens had joined him, but had none 
of his men with him. Pickens would set off the next 
day with a regiment of Sumter's brigade to take command 
in the neighborhood of Ninety Six. The Georgians had 
gone back into their own State and had been joined by 
almost every man in the Up-Country.^ In those move- 
ments Sumter had been strictly carrying out Greene's in- 

1 Nightingale Collection, Tear Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appen- 
dix, 10-11. 



186 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

structions. But on the day on which Sumter wrote the 
battle of Hobkirk's Hill had been fought, and Greene had 
been defeated. 

As has already appeared, Lord Rawdon had received in- 
formation of Greene's approach and received the reenforce- 
ment of a considerable body of Loyalists and recruits from 
the Saluda and the Broad rivers, under Major Frazier ; 
and, to his great mortification, Greene found that the garri- 
son of Camden was fully equal, if not superior, to the force 
he had brought against it. There is a great discrepancy 
among the authorities in regard to the numbers of Greene's 
army. Ramsay, on the one hand, states that the American 
army consisted of about seven hundred Continentals, and 
makes no mention of any militia or other body,i while 
Colonel Lee, on the other, estimates its numbers at fifteen 
hundred. 2 But as Lee himself states that the force was 
inadequate to the investment of Camden, it is preferred 
to adopt Johnson's careful estimate in detail, which is as 
follows : — 

The whole regular infantry of the American army at the 
battle of Hobkirk's Hill was 843 present fit for duty. The 
approach to an enemy's garrison had, as usual, increased 
desertions ; the Virginia line was continually fluctuating 
in numbers from the daily discharge of those whose time 
of service had expired, and this was partially the case at 
this time with the Maryland troops ; and long marches, hard 
service, and great exposure had sent many men to the hos- 
pital, most of whom had necessarily been left in the rear 
when they crossed from the Cape Fear to Camden. The 
cavalry nominally consisted of two regiments. White's 
and Washington's, but actually in number only 87, and 
only 56 of these were mounted. The artillery also 

1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 230. 

2 Memoirs of the War of 2776 (Lee), 333. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 187 

nominally constituted a regiment and was commanded 
by Colonel Harrison in person, but actually there were not 
men enough to fight three pieces, and after sending off the 
piece to Marion not above 40 artillerists remained. The 
only militia force then with the army consisted of 254 
North Carolinians. Of these 150 under Colonel Read had 
joined Greene soon after he crossed the Dan, and had faith- 
fully adhered to him from that time. They were, like 
Sumter's and Marion's men, volunteers — men of the first 
respectability, from whom much might have been expected 
in action. The rest had escorted the supplies sent to the 
army by Colonel Davie. Those authors who extend the 
American force beyond this estimate, says Johnson, must 
be led into some error, since General Greene repeatedly 
asserts that the forces of the combatants were nearly equal.^ 
The Americans thus numbered 939. The British accounts 
assert that Lord Rawdon, by arming every person in the 
garrison capable of bearing arms, musicians and drummers, 
mustered an effective force of about 900. ^ The two armies, 
thus nearly equal in numbers, were as well matched in the 
quality of the troops. Greene's army consisted of 650 Con- 
tinentals, or regulars, including the First Maryland Regi- 
ment, which had distinguished itself alike at Cowpens and 
Guilford Court-house, so that it was spoken of as the Tenth 
Legion. And of the 250 militia 150 at least were volun- 
teers of the first respectability. Lord Rawdon's force was 
made up of the Sixty-third Regiment of the British line, his 
own regiment, the Volunteers of Ireland, organized in Phila- 
delphia, the King's American Regiment, raised in and 
around New York, Colonel Turnbull's New York Volun- 
teers, the South Carolina Provincial Regiment, and a small 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene^ vol. II, 77. 

2 Stedman's Am. War^ vol. II, 356 ; Annual Begister, vol. XXIV, 81 ; 
see also Gordon's Am. Revolution, vol. IV, 81. 



188 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

body of New York Dragoons under Captain Coffin. These 
provincial regiments were of the same character as the 
Continental regiments of the American service. They 
were regular troops enlisted in America. Besides these 
regulars, Lord Rawdon had a body of Loyalists who corre- 
sponded to the militia under Greene. 

On the 20th of April General Greene, advancing a little 
from the position he had taken the day before, took post 
at Hobkirk's Hill, to the north of Camden, about a mile 
and a half in advance of the British redoubts. Here he 
lay on his arms that day and the next, reconnoitring the 
enemy's position, getting intelligence of his strength, and 
hoping to tempt him into the field. He had received two 
pieces of artillery, as has been seen, to replace those lost at 
Guilford, one of which he proj)Osed to send to Marion upon 
his urgent request, the more readily as he knew that 
Colonel Harrison was at the time on his march from Vir- 
ginia with two pieces more. To mask tlie departure of 
this gun, Greene moved his army down to the southeast of 
Camden, having, before he did so, sent back the artillery, 
his baggage, and everything that could impede his move- 
ments, with an escort of North Carolina militia under 
Colonel Carrington. This officer was directed to proceed 
no farther than Rugeley's Mill, from which the piece des- 
tined to TNLarion was to be sent under Captain Finley by 
the Black River road. Major Eaton, with 220 North Caro- 
lina levies just arrived, was to march with the piece for its 
protection. The meanwhile Greene lay beyond Pine Tree 
Creek, southeast of Camden, at a place called the South 
Quarter, until the 24th, when, learning of the approach of 
the body of North Carolina levies under Major Eaton, and 
despairing of tempting Lord Rawdon from his strongliold, 
he sent orders to Marion to march up as soon as he should 
have gained the fort and to assist liini to invest Camden. 



IN THE BEVOLUTION 189 

To Carrington he sent orders to move down and rejoin 
him at Hobkirk's Hill. But this officer, instead of halting 
at Rugeley's Mill, ten miles distant, had conceived that it 
would be safer to move farther on, and had gone eight 
miles farther to a place called Upton's Mills. This un- 
fortunate disobedience of orders of which the general was 
unapprised, nearly doubled both the time it took the cou- 
riers to reach Carrington and the time necessary to comply 
with the orders to rejoin him. The consequences of this 
derangement, says Johnson, exhibited themselves in that 
hurry in camp on the morning of the 25th, which gave rise 
to the charge that Greene had suffered a surprise.^ 

Lord Rawdon, following the example of the Earl Corn- 
wallis the year before at the same place, assumed the of- 
fensive, as Greene had at first hoped that he would do. 
He had been informed by a deserter of Colonel Carrington's 
march to Rugeley's Mill, and deemed it an opportune mo- 
ment to attack Greene before Carrington or Marion should 
join him, or his artillery should come up. Accordingly, at 
nine o'clock in the morning of the 25th of April, he marched 
out from Camden with all the force he could muster. 
Turning aside from the direct road to Rugeley's Mill and 
keeping close to the edge of the swamp of Pine Tree 
Creek, under cover of the woods, he formed his army for 
attack upon the left of the American line. His order of 
battle was the same also as that of Cornwallis in the previ- 
ous engagement. His first line was composed of the Vol- 
unteers of Ireland on the right, the New York Volunteers 
in the centre, and the King's American Regiment on the 
left. The Sixty-third Regiment supported the volunteers 
of Ireland on the right, a detachment under a Captain 
Robertson supported the King's American Regiment on the 
left. The South Carolina Provincial Regiment and the New 
1 Jobnsou's Life of Greene, vol. II, 75. 



190 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

York Dragoons were held in reserve. The accounts of this 
battle, English and American, generally agree that Greene 
was surprised by the advance of Rawdon and taken at 
a disadvantage. General Huger, the second in command, 
told General Moultrie that they had just come on the 
ground, and that so little did they expect the British out 
of their line that a number of officers, with himself, were 
washing their feet, and a number of soldiers were washing 
their kettles, in a small rivulet that ran by their camp, 
when their pickets were driven in.^ Colonel Lee states 
that the men were engaged in distributing provisions and 
washing their clothes -,2 Stedman, that the Americans were 
resting in a fancied state of security when the pickets were 
driven in.^ The Annual Register goes farther, and accuses 
the Americans of being shamefully remiss and inattentive ;* 
but Johnson fully exonerates the American commander 
from this aspersion. He shows, we think satisfactorily, 
that though the attack was commenced while Greene him- 
self was at breakfast and his men were cooking theirs, his 
line was formed and every battalion was in its place, the 
artillery in battery, and all the baggage moved off, before 
the enemy presented themselves. As observed by Colonel 
Davie, who was present, " Men must cook and eat, and, 
when they can, will be washing and mending their 
clothes." ^ This is unavoidable. Blame only is deserved 
when, in the performance of these duties, proper precau- 
tions are neglected. The American line of battle which 
Rawdon found posted was as follows: The two Virginia 
regiments, forming a brigade under General Isaac Huger, 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 276. 

2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 336. 
8 Stedman's Am. War, vol. II, 356. 

* Annual Register, 1781, vol. XXIV, 82. 
6 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 94-95. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 191 

were on the right of the road, the Fourth under Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Campbell, and the Fifth under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Hawes. The two Maryland regiments, under 
Colonel Otho H. Williams, were on the left, the First 
Maryland under Colonel Gunby, and the Fifth under 
Lieutenant-Colonel Ford. The reserve consisted of the 
cavalry under Lieutenant-Colonel Washington, and the 
North Carolina militia under Colonel Read. Conjecturing 
that the enemy were still unapprised of the arrival of his 
artillery, the two centre regiments — the Fifth Virginia 
and the First Maryland — were closed across the road, and 
masked the pieces which were placed there. Patrols were 
out to scour the country upon Greene's right, and two 
strong pickets, commanded by Captains Morgan and Ben- 
son, were a mile in advance on his left, and in support of 
them was posted Captain Kirkwood of Delaware, with the 
remains of his gallant command. 

The enemy's advance was announced by the firing 
of these pickets, who advanced with the utmost coolness, 
gathering in their videttes, retiring in good order, and 
forming under Kirkwood. As the British approached, 
the American infantry unmasked the artillery, and re- 
ceived the assailants with showers of grape. Availing 
himself of the effect of this fire of his artillery, Greene 
assumed the offensive, assured of an easy victory. Nothing 
more appeared to be necessary but to close upon the 
flanks of the enemy, and cut off the flying troops from 
regaining the redoubt of Camden. ^ As the British front 
occupied a smaller space than the American, it was re- 
ceived by Colonel Hawes's Virginians and Colonel 
Gunby's Marylanders, Colonel Campbell's Virginians on 
the extreme right, and Colonel Ford's Marylanders on the 
left overlapping the attacking column. Confident of suc- 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 77-80. 



192 HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAEOLINA 

cess, Greene hurriedly ordered Washington to make for 
the enemy's rear, Colonel Campbell to wheel upon their left 
and Colonel Ford upon their right, and the centre regiments, 
Hawes's and Gunby's, to charge. But Greene had no ordi- 
nary adversary to deal with in Lord Rawdon, nor had his 
troops inferior men to oppose. Lord Rawdon at once ad- 
vanced his support, and extended his line in such a manner 
as not only to counteract this movement of the Americans, 
but to expose their wings to the very disadvantage to which 
Greene had proposed to subject his. As Campbell and 
Ford executed Greene's order, and wheeled their regiments 
to attack the flank of the advancing column of the British, 
they themselves were outflanked by Lord Rawdon's sup- 
port, now extended on the right and left. Disorder fol- 
lowed, and Greene's flanking wings were driven back. 
Nor did the centre regiment respond to his wishes. 

The deflection to the right pursued by Rawdon had 
brought the brunt of the attack upon Greene's left centre. 
But nowhere else could he have wished it to have fallen, 
as that was the position of the famous First Maryland. 
Against this excellent regiment, the movements on the 
field had thrown the best troops on the British side — the 
Sixty-third Regiment of the line, and the King's American 
Regiment.! Here, then, might well have been expected 
a terrific struggle for the mastery. But, strange to say, 
the Marylanders, who had fought so gloriously against the 
Seventy-first at Cowpens, and fought half the battle at 
Guilford now quailed before the Sixty-third, and shrank 
away in a panic. The first symptom of confusion was 
shown by the fire contrary to orders. This was scarcely sup- 
pressed when Captain Beatty, who led the right company 
of the First Marylands, who was the pride and stay of 
his command, fell pierced to the heart. His fall caused 
1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 463 



IN THE REVOLUTION 193 

those nearest to him to check their progress, and the halt 
was rapidly communicated, from right to left, through two 
companies before the cause was understood. Some hesita- 
tion ensued when the men were urged to regain the line. 
Then occurred the event upon which Greene asserts that 
the fate of the battle turned. Colonel Gunby despatched 
Lieutenant-Colonel Howard with orders to his remaining 
companies of the regiment, then advancing with confi- 
dence, to halt and fall back in order that he might reform 
their faltering comrades upon them. But, instead of this, 
the retrograde movement only extended the panic to those 
who had been before without fear. Nor did the evil 
end here. Wliile Williams, Gunby, and Howard were 
actively and earnestly engaged in a combined effort to 
rally their regiment, Colonel Ford, whilst gallantly execut- 
ing his orders on the American left, fell from his horse 
with a mortal wound. His regiment, dispirited by the 
fall of its leader, and severed from the line by the retire- 
ment of the First Maryland, soon faltered and retired. 

Nothing, says Johnson, could exceed the surprise and 
disappointment of the commander at this instant. His 
favorite regiment, in whose courage and conduct he re- 
posed with such confidence, now blasting all his fair hopes 
by a retreat without making the smallest trial for victory ! 
Conscious of the vital importance of rapidity in the 
movement of the wings, he had spurred his horse up to 
the extreme right, and was leading on Campbell's right 
in person when he was called away by the hesitation and 
confusion manifested in his centre. He vainly tried the 
influence of his voice and presence to bring his panic- 
stricken soldiers once more into action. They heard him 
and they halted, but by this time they had reached the 
bottom of the hill, and his attention was now drawn 
away by the loud shouts of the enemy. Again urging 

VOL. IV. — O 



194 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

his horse to the summit of the hill, the whole extent of 
his misfortune opened upon his view. 

Hawes's regiment was now the only one remaining intact. 
The artillery was left open and exposed on the summit of 
the hill. Its loss, besides the certain evidence of defeat, 
could not have been repaired. In the midst of the flying 
bullets which were showered about him, for he was then 
almost alone upon the most exposed part of the hill, his 
historian asserts, his orders were issued in a tone of perfect 
composure, to draw off the right and left regiments and form 
them on Gunby's regiment which was now rallied; while 
Hawes with the Second Virginia should cover their retreat. 
This order was well executed, and in the issue left the 
American commander the election of a renewal of the battle 
or a composed retreat. But during its execution the artil- 
lery was exposed to imminent danger. To save this Greene 
ordered up Captain Smith, who commanded a light in- 
fantry company detailed from the Maryland line. The 
enemy, with loud shouts, ascended the hill, and the British 
horse, commanded by Captain Coffin, now appeared to join 
in the pursuit. The matrosses were quitting the drag-ropes 
when Greene galloped up alone, — for his aides were engaged 
elsewhere carrying his orders, — and, dismounting, himself 
seized the ropes, thus inspiring his men with a zeal which 
could not be resisted. Smith now arrived and assisted in 
drawing off the guns, until Coffin's cavalry approached the 
hill, when, forming in the rear of the artillery, he poured into 
Coffin's ranks a volley from which they recoiled and re- 
treated. Again and again did Coffin return to the charge, 
while Smith's men in the intervals assisted at the drag- 
ropes ; and as often as Coffin repeated his attempts was he 
foiled and driven back with loss. But the enemy's infantry 
now coming up. Smith's men began fast to fall. He him- 
self was badly wounded, but neither his resolution nor 



IN THE REVOLUTION 195 

even his cheerfulness flagged. His little party of forty-five 
men was now reduced to but fourteen, and some accident 
having caused them to deliver an irregular fire, Coifin suc- 
ceeded in forcing them, and every man was killed or taken. 
The artillery would now have been lost had not Colonel 
Washington appeared on the field, and, charging in, put 
an end to the contest. 

Colonel Washington's appearance at this critical moment 
undoubtedly saved Greene the loss of his artillery ; and 
Greene, in his official report, gives him great credit, assert- 
ing that he had penetrated into the enemy's rear, found them 
flying, and made two hundred prisoners. But, strange tosay, 
it appears that these prisoners were all non-combatants, to 
secure or parole whom Washington not only lost the most 
precious time, but actually encumbered his own force. 
General Davie, who was with Greene at this time, thus 
describes his action : — 

In turning the enemy's left Washington made a circuit so large 
as to bring him into the open commons between Log Town and Camden ; 
this space was filled with doctors, surgeons, quartermasters, commis- 
saries, wagon masters, waiters, and all the loose trumpery of an army 
who had pushed out to see the battle. The cavalry immediately 
charged this mixed multitude, and employed in taking, securing, and 
parolling a great number of these people those precious moments 
which would have brought them in actual contact with the second 
line of the enemy, either before it moved up to extend the front, or 
while this manoeuvre was performing, and in either case the charge 
would have been decisive, and the battle would not have lasted fifteen 
minutes. But the charge was never made on the line of the enemy, 
the critical moment was lost, and in battles minutes are hours. The 
British officers acknowledged the unfortunate effect of the clemency 
of our cavalry in waiting to capture and parole prisoners when they 
should have cut them out of their way without stopping, and charged 
the rear of the British line. They were, in fact, so encumbered with 
prisoners they could do nothing." ^ 

1 Johnson's Life of Cfreene, vol. II, 83. 



196 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The British accounts make still less of Colonel Wash- 
ington's movement in their rear. They restrict its results 
to the capture of a few stragglers and the parolling of some 
liritish officers who lay on the ground.^ Not only did 
Washington waste his time in parolling wounded officers 
and non-combatants, but he encumbered his cavalry by 
mounting these useless prisoners behind his troopers, tlms 
exhausting his horses and rendering them, while thus 
doubly burdened, useless for further action. It was in 
this condition that he approached his own army upon his 
return, and had, of course, to lose further time while throw- 
ing off his prisoners before he could make the charge. 

When Greene found his artillery, ammunition wagons, 
and other material safe from the enemy, he remained only 
long enough to collect his wounded as far as circumstances 
would permit, and ordered a retreat ; upon which Lord 
Rawdon occupied the ground whereon the American army 
had been drawn up. He did not pursue far, and Greene, 
after retiring two or three miles, halted to recover his 
stragglers. Here he remained until afternoon, and, hav- 
ing refreshed his men, continued the retreat with his 
infantry and artillery as far as Sanders's Creek, about four 
miles from the field of battle and near the place of Gates's 
defeat in August before, and there he encamped. 

Lord Rawdon did not pursue farther, but as Greene 
retired he also withdrew towards Camden, leaving Captain 
Coffin and some mounted men on the field of battle. This 
party Washington succeeded in drawing into an ambush, 
and cut to pieces or dispersed, and thereupon occupied the 
position where Greene had drawn up his army in the morn- 
ing, and thus, in a manner, the Americans remained in 
possession of the field. 

1 Stedman's Am. War, vol. II, 358 ; Annual Hegistep, vol. XXIV, 82 ; 
Tarleton's Campaigns, 404. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 197 

The Americans lost in this action 19 killed, 113 wounded, 
and 136 missing, in all 268.1 The British lost 258, of 
which about 38 were killed.^ The loss to the Americans 
in officers was severe. Lieutenant-Colonel Ford's wound 
proved mortal, and, as has been seen. Captain Beatty was 
killed. The British lost no officers of prominence. One 
only was slain and 11 wounded. The respective losses 
on the two sides were thus as nearly equal as was the 
strength of the contending armies. 

Great was Greene's disappointment at the result of this 
battle. He had confidently anticipated victory, and in this 
his officers appear to have joined, but upon what ground 
it is difficult to perceive. The opposing armies, as it has 
appeared, were almost of exact equality in numbers, and 
in material the British were in no wise inferior. The only 
advantage which Greene possessed was in his three pieces 
of artillery. In any event the issue of a struggle with so 
good a soldier as Lord Rawdon upon such equal terms 
must have been in doubt to the last. But Greene's con- 
fidence, and his singular want of respect for his adversary, 
led him to commit the great error of attempting to attack 
on all sides an enemy whose force was equal to his own. 
Thus it was that, in attempting to strike his opponent upon 
both flanks, he exposed his own wings to the very danger 
he designed for his opponent. As the wings under Camp- 
bell and Ford, on the right and left, in obedience to his 
order, wheeled towards the advancing British column, they 
themselves exposed their flanks to the prolongation of the 
British line made to meet them. So, too, Washington, in 
carrying out his order to make for the enemy's rear, was 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 85 ; Memoirs of the War of 1776, 339 ; 
Eeturn of Col. Williams, Adjutant General ; Tarletoii's Campaigns, 470. 

2 Stedman's Am. War, 358 ; Annual Begister, vol. XXIV, 83; Tarle- 
ton's Campaigns, 464. 



198 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

practically withdrawn from the battle, and his strength 
and energy wasted in a raid which had no effect upon its 
result. 

But Greene was not convinced of his error by the prac- 
tical working out of his plan of battle in defeat. The loss 
of victory was due to some one else. There must be found 
a victim, and so Colonel Gunby was settled upon as the 
responsible author of the defeat. He was immediately 
called before a court of inquiry consisting of General 
Huger, Colonel Harrison, and Lieutenant-Colonel Wash- 
ington. The court found that Colonel Gunby's spirit and 
activity were unexceptionable, but that his order for the 
regiment to retire was extremely improper and unmilitary, 
and in all probability the only cause why they did not 
obtain a complete victory. Gunby, though thus personally 
exculpated from all but an error of judgment, was de- 
tached upon some employment in the rear of the army, and 
did not rejoin it. 

Greene was greatly chagrined at the result of the battle. 
He was one of those commanders who can always persuade 
themselves that but for the untoward conduct of others, 
great victories would undoubtedly have been achieved. 
Of the battle of Guilford Court-house, he had written 
with the same confidence, " Had the North Carolina militia 
done their duty, the victory would have been certain and 
easy."^ So now he writes: "Gunby was the sole cause 
of the defeat. . . . We should have had Lord Rawdon 
and his whole command prisoners in three minutes if 
Colonel Gunby had not ordered his regiment to retire." ^ 
And again : " We have been twice beaten, the last time by 
the unfortunate order of Colonel Gunby, who ordered 
the First Maryland Regiment to retire when the enemy 
were fleeing before them and in confusion in all quarters. 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 24. 2 m^.^ 86-87. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 199 

Victory was certain, and the fall of Camden as certain, as 
I had taken measures to cut off their retreat." ^ 

The result of the battle might have been much longer in 
doubt, and might have been decided very differently, had 
not the Marylanders failed at this critical moment. But 
it will be observed that Gunby's order was not the begin- 
ning of the difficulty. Tlie trouble arose from one of those 
unaccountable panics which occasionally take possession of 
the best troops, and against which no precaution can be main- 
tained, and over which no leadership can prevail. Greene's 
line had been broken, not by Gunby, but by Captain Beatty's 
men upon his fall. Had Gunby taken a different course, 
the Marylanders might have been rallied and brought back 
to action. But they might not. And to assert that but 
for his mistake victory was certain was mere assumption. 
With quite as much reason may the defeat have been at- 
tributed to the course pursued by Washington on his raid 
into a deserted camp, instead of a charge upon the flanks 
of the fighting enemy; or, indeed, to Greene's own mis- 
management, by which in advancing his centre he covered 
his artillery so completely as to silence it, while, attempting 
to assail both flanks of the enemy, he exposed his own 
wings to a like danger. 

It does not appear that there was any such break or 
confusion in the British ranks as Green supposed. The 
grape-shot from his field-pieces was very destructive to 
the enemy, but, so far from fleeing before it, it was their 
steady advance which so disconcerted the Marylanders. 

Greene's chagrin was not confined to the loss of the 
battle by Gunby. He was disheartened and dissatisfied. 
To his friend, Governor Reed of Pennsylvania, he pours 
out his complaints. The nature of the war and the re- 
sources of the country appear, he writes, to be little known 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 87-89. 



200 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to the northward. The strength and resources of these 
States to support the war had been greatly magnified and 
overrated, and those whose business and true interest it 
was to give a just statement of the situation had joined in 
the deception, and from a false principle of pride in having 
the country thought powerful had led people to believe it 
was so. It was true there were many inhabitants, but 
they were over a great extent of country and nearly equally 
divided between the king's interest and ours. The produce 
raised in it was difficult to collect from the extent of the 
country in the best of times, and it was utterly impossible to 
do so then, as all the horses and means of transportation were 
destroyed. The love of ease and want of zeal among the 
friends of the cause rendered their exertions very languid, 
and unless the Northern States could give more efiQcient 
support these States must fall ; and what was worse, their 
fall would sap the foundations of the liberties of all the 
rest. The service in their quarter was so disagreeable to 
the Continental soldiers that many of them deserted and 
entered the British service. Camden, Ninety Six, and 
Augusta covered all the fertile parts of the States, and the 
enemy had laid waste the upper country in such a manner 
that an army could not subsist in the neighborhood of 
their posts ; and this must secure them. Nothing but a 
superior army to the enemy's collective force could give 
relief to this distressed country, the miseries of which ex- 
ceeded all belief. He did not believe any people suffered 
greater calamities. The Whigs and Tories were butcher- 
ing each other hourly. The war here was on a very dif- 
ferent scale from what it was at the North. It was a plain 
business there. The geography of the country reduced its 
operations to two or three points. But here it was every- 
where. The country was so full of deep rivers and im- 
passable creeks and swamps that one was always liable to 



IN THE REVOLUTION 201 

misfortunes of a capital nature. In collecting provisions 
and forage he was obliged to send the same guards and 
escorts as if the country was avowedly the enemy's. 

He complained that Virginia, which had exerted herself 
the winter before when the enemy approached, had done 
nothing since. That North Carolina had done nothing 
at all until she saw that the enemy would not be allowed 
to possess the State quietly. Maryland had given no assist- 
ance to his army. Not a recruit had joined him from that 
State, and he was discharging his men daily upon the 
expiration of their terms of service. " You hear great 
things," he continues, " from Generals Marion and Sumpter. 
These are brave, good officers; but the people who are 
with them just come and go as they please. These par- 
ties rather seem to keep the dispute alive than lay a 
foundation for the recovery of the country. Don't be 
deceived in your expectations from this quarter ; if greater 
support cannot be given for the recovery of these States, 
they must and will remain in the hands of the enemy." 

" The prospects here," he declared, " are so unpromising, 
and the difficulties so great, that I am almost sick of the 
service and wish myself out of the department. When I 
made this last movement I expected two thousand Virginia 
militia to operate with us and one thousand men with 
Sumpter ; ^ but both have failed and I am in the greatest 
distress. The tardiness of the people put it out of my 
power to attempt anything great. If our good ally the 
French cannot afford assistance to these Southern States, 
in my opinion there will be no opposition on this side of 
Virginia before the fall, and I expect the enemy will possess 
all the lower country of that State. The want of subsist- 
ence will prevent further operations in this country unless 

1 In this, as it has appeared, he was mistaken. Sumter's estimate in- 
cluded Marion's men as well as his own. 



202 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

we can take post on the Congaree where provisions are to 
be had in great plenty." ^ 

Such was Greene' s despondency and discontent. Yet 
Sumter and Marion, whose achievements he so belittled as 
to declare that they rather served to keep alive the dispute 
than lay a foundation for the recovery of the country, had 
already in the judgment of Lord Cornwallis and Lord Raw- 
don rendered necessary the abandonment of Camden, and it 
was Greene's coming only which had postponed its evacua- 
tion. Lord Rawdon had the earl's instructions to retire 
within the cover of the Santee, which had only been delayed 
by Greene's approach.^ If the French could not afford 
assistance, it was Greene's opinion that before the fall there 
would be no opposition this side of Virginia. The French 
did come to the assistance of Virginia ; but before their 
arrival there South Carolina had been recovered, and the 
British confined to the neighborhood of Charlestown. 
What part Sumter, Marion, and Pickens had in the accom- 
plishment of this great result has already appeared, and will 
still further appear in the sequel. It is sufficient now to 
observe that Greene failed to appreciate that the geography 
and topography of the country of which he complained 
was much more disadvantageous to the enemy than to the 
Americans. Its deep rivers and impassable swamps were 
so many natural defences against the invaders. Marion 
understood this, and, availing himself of these fastnesses, 
became a terror to the enemy. Greene had no taste nor 
talent for this kind of warfare. He was for a grand array 
and open country, in which he might apply the stock of 
military knowledge which he had acquired, as his biographer 
tells, at Boston in the commencement of the Revolution. 

Lord Rawdon had achieved a decisive victory over Greene 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 87-89. 

2 Tarleton's Campaigns, 461, 462. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 203 

and his Continental troops, but the work of the Carolina 
partisan bands, while Greene was in North Carolina, was 
not undone. The spirit of the whole people was aroused, 
especially in the Low-Country, which had been stunned 
by the blow of the fall of Charlestown and the following 
disasters ; armed parties of patriots were everywhere scour- 
ing the country. The British were not deceived by Lord 
Rawdon's victory ; they yet fully recognized the gravity 
of their situation. Colonel Balfour, writing to Sir Henry 
Clinton, giving him an account of that success, thus closes 
his letter : ^ — 

"Bat notwithstanding this brilliant success, I must inform your 
Excellency that the general state of the country is most distressing, 
that the enemy's parties are everywhere, the communication by land 
with Savannah no longer exists. Colonel Brown is invested at Augusta, 
and Colonel Cruger in the most critical situation at Ninety Six, nearly 
confined to his works and without any present command over that 
country. Indeed, I should betray the duty I owe your Excellency, did 
I not represent the defection of this province so universal, that I know 
of no mode short of depopulation to retain it. 

" This spirit of revolt is in some measure kept up by the many 
officers prisoners of war here, and I should therefore think it advisable 
to remove them, as well as to make the most striking examples of such 
as, having taken protection, snatch every occasion to rise in arms 
against us." 

This was the work of Sumter and Marion, as the Brit- 
ish recognized it ; but which, in Greene's opinion, served 
only to keep alive the dispute, rather than lay any foun- 
dation for the recovery of the country. 

^ Clinton- Cornwallis Controversy., vol. I, 472. 



CHAPTER IX 

1781 

Greene, who on the morning of the 25th of April had 
been so confident of victory and the capture of Rawdon's 
army, that evening despatched to Sumter an order to col- 
lect all his force and join him immediately. His army, he 
wrote, was too small to maintain his ground before Cam- 
den, and therefore it had become necessary that they 
should form a junction of their forces. The enemy had 
advanced that morning and given battle. They had driven 
him some little distance from the field, but he had saved 
his stores and taken some prisoners.^ 

The next morning he received letters from Marion, in- 
forming him of the capture of Fort Watson, and wrote at 
once, congratulating that officer upon his success and ap- 
proving the articles of capitulation. The enemy, he wrote, 
had advanced upon him yesterday and given him battle. 
The conflict had been short and seemed once to promise 
him advantage, but he had been obliged to retire and give 
up the field, though with no material loss. He was now 
within five miles of Camden and should closely invest it in 
a day or two again. That he might be enabled to cooper- 
ate with more certainty against the post, he requested 
Marion to move up immediately to their assistance and 
take post on the north side of the town.^ Orders were 
also sent to Colonel Lee, requiring him to join the army 

1 Sumter MSS., Year Bonk, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 92. 

2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), GO. 

204 



IN THE REVOLUTION 205 

forthwith.^ The fact is that Greene, mortified at the result 
of the battle, was now contemplating the abandonment of 
the State, and the withdrawal of his army to Virginia.^ 
This, it is true, Johnson, his biographer, will not allow, 
but the evidence is conclusive that it was so ; and the re- 
sult of the movement which he now ordered opened the 
way for Watson to rejoin Rawdon. 

As soon as the capitulation of Fort Watson had been 
signed, Lee, followed by his infantry, hastened to the 
cavalry of his Legion, who were still in front of Watson, 
and, on the next morning, was joined by Marion, who had 
been delayed, disposing of the prisoners and stores. Watson, 
it will be remembered, after crossing the Santee in his 
movement from Georgetown, had cautiously advanced to 
Monck's Corner. As Marion and Lee were directly in his 
way by the Nelson's Ferry road, he turned to his left, and, 
moving up the southwest bank of the Santee, through 
what is now Orangeburg County, beyond where the Con- 
garee and Wateree uniting form the Santee, taking the 
route by Fort Motte, crossed the Congaree at Mc Cord's 
Ferry, then proceeding up the west bank of the Wateree, 
through what is now Richland County, he finally joined 
the army by crossing the Wateree near Camden. Watson 
had placed himself at a considerable distance before his 
enemy discovered his course. Lee was, nevertheless, about 
to attempt to intercept him, when he received Greene's 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 341, 

2 Lee writes : " General Greene, heretofore soured by the failure of his 
expected succor from Sumter, now deeply chagrined by the inglorious 
behavior of a favorite regiment, converting his splendid prospects into 
tlie renewal of toil and difficulty, of doubt and disgrace, became for a 
while discontented with his advance to the south. He sent orders to 
Lieutenant-Colonel Lee requiring him to join the array forthwith, and 
indicated by other measures a disposition to depart from his adopted 
system.'''' — Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 341. 



206 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

order to rejoin the army. This he at once obeyed, and, 
moving with all possible despatch, he had marched thirty- 
two miles during the course of the day and a part of the 
night, when he was met with an order countermanding his 
junction with the army. In the meanwhile the possibility 
of stopping Watson had been lost. Captain Finley, with 
the piece of artillery which Greene had despatched upon 
Marion's application, joined Lee, and they at once returned 
to that officer, who was at the High Hills of Santee, in the 
vicinity of the Congaree and Wateree, waiting for Wat- 
son's advance. But Watson had eluded them. 

The day after the battle Greene moved his army to 
Rugeley's Mill, where he remained for several days ; then, 
breaking up his camp there, he crossed the Wateree into 
what is now Fairfield County, and took a strong position 
on Twenty-five Mile Creek, hoping in this way to inter- 
cept Watson upon his southern route.^ 

Neither Sumter, Marion, or Lee joined Greene, as called 
upon to do, after the battle of the 25th. Lee, as it has 
appeared, moved at once to do so, but was met by counter- 
manding orders, and returned to Marion, and with him 
proceeded to Black River. Sumter has been much criti- 
cised because he did not come as ordered.^ This criticism, 
which came first from Greene himself, was most unjust, as 
appears from their correspondence at the time. On the 
19th of April Greene writes to Sumter, informing him of 
his arrival within three miles of Camden, telling him that 
his greatest dependence was upon him for supplies, and 
inquiring as to his situation. On the 23d he writes again 
— fearing that his letter of a day or two before had fallen 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 342 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, 
vol. II, 105. 

2 3Iemoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 341 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, 
vol. II, 213 ; Campaigns in the Carolinas, 290. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 207 

into the hands of the Tories — that he had the mortifica- 
tion to learn that the South Carolina Royalists had, the 
day before, thrown themselves into Camden ; that he must 
depend entirely upon him for security against parties from 
Ninety Six. Neither of these letters appear to have 
reached Sumter for some days — that of the 23d certainly 
did not until the 27th. But on the 25th, the day of the date 
of Greene's order, and of the battle, Sumter, of his own 
motion, had written a long letter to Greene, giving him a 
full account of his movements, telling him that he had 
gone into the Mobley settlement to relieve their friends 
in that section ; that he would march to-morrow with all 
speed for the Congaree ; that he had detached Colonel 
Hampton to the Watcree with wagons for provisions to 
be sent to him ; that Hampton would also keep small 
parties from going into or coming out of Camden. Sumter 
received Greene's letter of the 23d on the 27th, and again 
writes fully .^ On the 28th Captain Pierce, aide-de-camp, 
writes to Sumter, " General Greene has received your 
letter of the 25th, and desires me to return his thanks for 
your exertions." ^ And yet in a letter, which from its con- 
text is supposed to have been written on the 29th, Greene 
complains to Lee: " General Sumter has got but few men ; 
he has taken the field and is pushing after little parties of 
Tories towards Ninety Six. Mayor Hyrne is gone to him, 
if possible to get him to join us, hut this I know he will 
avoid, if he can with decency, for the same reason that you 
wish to act separately from the army.'''' ^ 

This correspondence discovers, to say the least, great 
want of candor on the part of the commanding general. 

1 Sumter MSS., Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charleston, 
1899, Appendix, 10-12. 

2 Ihid., 92, 

8 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 64. 



208 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

In pushing towards Ninety Six himself, and sending 
Hampton with wagons for supplies for Greene's army, 
Sumter had but obeyed the general's own orders as far as 
received, and anticipated those not received. He was en- 
deavoring to do just what Greene's letters directed him 
to do, to secure Greene against parties from Ninety Six. 
Upon his report of what he had done, Greene returns bare 
thanks for his exertions, and the next day writes to Lee, 
implying that Sumter was contravening his wishes in going 
on expeditions for his own personal ends. Lee falls at 
once into the general's humor, and replies : — 

" You do me great honor in calling the adopted plan mine. I have no 
pretence to such distinction. It gave me pleasure to know that my 
sentiments coincided with yours, and this honor I claim. I am so 
convinced of the wisdom of the operations that no disaster can affect 
my opinion. Hitherto all is well, and nobody to blame but General 
Sumter. I do not conceive how you can assimilate any part of my 
conduct to this gentleman's, especially when you recollect that by my 
own request 1 am under General Marion," etc. ^ 

Thus Greene, desiring to get out of the business, and 
Lee, anxious to keep him to it by flattery or other- 
wise, unite in putting the blame of failure at Hobkirk's 
Hill upon Sumter. And yet the facts were that Sumter 
had promptly replied to Greene's request to collect a force 
and join him, writing on the very day the request was 
received, to wit, the 25th, and that in such a manner that 
Greene on the 28th — only the day before he complains to 
Lee — returns thanks for his exertions, telling him that 
Major Hyrne has been sent to acquaint him with the situa- 
tion.2 Major Hyrne returned to Greene the morning of the 
30th, with a letter from Sumter of the 29th, to which 
Greene writes in reply on the 30th : ^ — 

^ Campaigns in the Carolinas, 290. 

2 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 92. 

8 Ibid., 93. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 209 

"Both by the Major's report and your letter I find you think it will 
be prejudicial to the public service for you to cross the Wateree and 
join me. Our situation requires it ; but you press so many objections, 
and I am so desirous to rouse the people in that quarter, I have 
thought it most advisable to revoke the order and leave you at liberty 
to prosecute your original plan. General Marion and Col. Lee had 
orders to cross the Santee, and one or both undoubtedly will. If both 
cross, I am afraid Watson, who is now in Georgetown, will throw 
himself into Camden. If they separate, I fear one part will be too 
weak to oppose him. You will keep yourself informed of both his 
and Major Mc Arthur's movements, the latter of whom, with the 
Hessian Horse, I fear got into Camden last evening. However, this 
is not certain." ^ 

On the 2d of May Sumter acknowledged the receipt of 
this letter of Greene's of the 30th. " I am glad," he writes, 
"you are so circumstanced as to permit the troops with 
me to remain in this quarter." He reports that Hampton 
had returned from the Wateree, that he had killed thirteen 
of the enemy's guard at Friday's Ferry, five of another 
party going to the fort (Granby), and had taken a number 
of horses and several negroes. He reports also that Colonel 
Thomas had just returned from Bush River, in what is 
now Newberry County, where he fell in with a party of 
Tories, killed three, and took twelve prisoners, four wag- 
ons, and several negroes ; that while he was not well 
informed as to McArthur's movements, he had no appre- 
hensions that he could get into Camden without his 
knowing of it; that he had ten wagons on their way to 
Greene with meat, and that he could furnish more. He 
thought that if he had a six-pounder this place (Granby) 
might be taken .^ 

1 Major McArthur, it will be recollected, was at Cowpens, commanding 
the yeventy-first Regiment, where he was taken, surrendering his sword 
to General Pickens. He now appears again in the field, but we have no 
account of his release or exchange. 

'^ Sumter's Letters, Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charles- 
ton, 1889, Appendix, 13. 

VOL. IV. — P 



210 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

From these letters it appears that Sumter had so con- 
vinced Greene that his withdrawal from the Wateree would 
be prejudicial to the service as to induce him to revoke 
the order requiring him to do so. Sumter was reporting 
to him daily, and they were apparently acting in the fullest 
accord. On the 4th of May Greene writes Sumter of in- 
telligence he had received that Lord Cornwallis had moved 
up towards Cross Creek, and, it was thought, was on his 
way to Camden, which, however, was uncertain. Corn- 
wallis's movements would oblige him to collect all his 
regular forces, for which purpose he sends to Sumter letters 
to be forwarded to Marion and Lee. He was glad to hear 
that the people were joining him, but was afraid it was 
little to be depended upon. He wished to know what 
force Sumter had, and what Marion could join them with. 
" If our collective strength would warrant an attack upon 
Lord Cornwallis," he writes, " I should be glad to make it, 
for defeating him will be next to an entire recovery of the 
country, and anything else a partial business." So far 
from disapproving Sumter's course at this time, he con- 
tinues: "If you can possess the forts upon the Congaree 
with a field-piece, it can be sent you immediately. But 
then, whatever is done must take place immediately, or 
the enemy will in all probability be soon upon our tracks." 
"Writing to Lee, he had expressed distrust of Sumter, and 
now, writing to Sumter, he complains of Marion in a 
matter which came near losing that officer's indispensable 
services to the country. " Don't fail to get us all the good 
dragoon horses that you can, for we are in the utmost 
distress for want of them. Genl. Marion, I am told, has 
a considerable number of them, on which he has mounted 
his militia. It is a pity that good horses should be given 
into the hands of people who are engaged for no lim- 
ited time." Though Sumter, because of his wound in 



IN THE REVOLUTION 211 

the shoulder, wrote with great pain, letters were passing 
between these two officers daily, sometimes twice a day. 
On the 6th of May Greene acknowledges the receipt of 
two letters of the 4th, and, giving Sumter the latest in- 
formation of Cornwallis's movements, discussing with him 
tlieir probable object, thanking him for the supplies he is 
furnishing, and sending him arms and ammunition, the 
General continues, " I fully agree with you that vigorous 
measures are necessary to strike terror into our enemies, 
and give spirit to our people." And the next day he again 
writes, " Be in readiness to join us if necessity requires it, 
but you may depend upon not being called from the 
Congaree but from the most pressing necessity ; for I am 
as fully impressed loith the advantages of your continuing 
there as you can 6g." So diligent was Sumter in his re- 
ports to his general at this time, that he appears to have 
made some apology for troubling him with his commu- 
nications, for Greene writes to him in this letter : " Your 
writing needs no apology, rely upon it. I understand you 
perfectly, and meet with no difficulty in reading your 
letters. On the contrary, they are plain, clear, and intel- 
ligible." It thus appears that both Lee and Sumter urged 
upon Greene the importance of striking beyond the Con- 
garee, and that Greene expressed himself to both of them 
as convinced in regard to it. Sumter's course at this time 
is thus fully vindicated by Greene himself. The general, 
through his own mistake, had deceived himself as to the 
number of men Sumter had hoped to bring into the field, 
and suffered much under the disappointment, the blame 
for which he continued to visit upon him. Then Sumter 
had taken position as agreed upon between himself and 
Major Hyrne, sent by the commander to arrange it with 
him. Then he orders Sumter, Marion, and Lee to join him 
upon his defeat at Hobkirk's Hill. The order to the two 



212 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

latter he himself revokes, and yields to Sumter's remon- 
strances, again made through Major Hyrne, as to him ; and 
now, ten days afterwards, he declares himself as fully im- 
pressed with the advantages of Sumter's course as Sumter 
himself could be. All this is fully explained by Johnson, 
and yet, in a subsequent summary of the causes of com- 
plaint which Greene had against Sumter, that author 
enumerates Sumter's failure to join him at this time as one 
of them, and adds to it another. " When," says this author, 
"he was ordered to march toward Camden and form a 
junction with the main army, General Greene yielded to 
his remonstrances, and revoked the order, substituting for 
it a particular charge to watch the movements of Colonel 
Watson to the west of the Wateree, and prevent his junc- 
tion with Lord Rawdon, when, instead of bending his 
whole attention to this object, . . . Watson was suffered to 
pass him, and Rawdon again acquired the command of the 
field." 1 

This additional charge against Sumter is best answered 
by the previous narration of the same author. Thus he 
says 2 it appears that Sumter was not only released from the 
order to form a junction with the commander at this time, 
but particularly charged with the execution of most impor- 
tant services. The punctuality with which they were 
executed is attested by the numerous communications of 
this period, not only daily as required, but repeated as 
often as the occurrences of the day rendered it proper. 
Provisions were sent, the communications of the enemy 
assiduously watched, swamps explored to cut off the enemy's 
supplies, and particular attention paid to the approach to 
Camden, by the west side of the Wateree. Yet Watson 
managed to elude all their preparations to cut him off. 
Major McArthur appears on this occasion to have exhibited 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 213. 2 /jr,;,^,^ 109. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 213 

the character of an active and enterprising soldier. He 
commanded a corps of indifferent cavalry formed of drafts 
of the Hessian troops at the time in Charlestown. Scouring 
the country in front of Watson, he appears to have com- 
pletely masked his advance, and, after throwing twenty- 
five of his command under Doyle into Camden, to have 
returned to Fort Motte, and succeeded in getting into 
that place a piece of artillery. 

No intelligence reached Sumter of the approach of Watson 
until the latter was discovered crossing the Wateree. 
Immediately, as he was apprised of the fact, he despatched 
250 of his mounted men with orders to harass and detain 
him until he could advance with the infantry on his left 
whilst Marion came up in his rear. But Watson, by a 
rapid and unremitting march, succeeded in crossing the 
ferry opposite the present Stateburg and, with the Wateree 
between himself and his enemy, proceeded in safety to join 
Rawdon with 500 men.^ 

Johnson's defence of Sumter for not joining Greene is 
coupled, it will be observed, with the allegation that he 
was particularly charged with the duty of watching Watson 
and preventing his junction with Rawdon. But this is 
scarcely just. It was Marion and Lee who had been 
opposing Watson, and who, as soon as released from 
Greene's order to join him, returned at once to intercept 
him. It was only incidentally that Sumter was charged to 
look after him. Greene writes to Sumter his apprehension 
that if both Marion and Lee crossed the Santee as he had 
ordered them to do, that Watson would evade them, and 
directs Sumter to keep himself informed as to the move- 
ments of both Watson and Mc Arthur. Colonel Lee 
himself, so prompt as he always was to put blame upon 
Sumter, does not in this case think of doing so, but assumes 
1 Stedman's Am. War, vol. II, 360. 



214 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

upon Marion and himself the miscarriage. He says : ^ " Had 
these two officers [Marion and himself] confined their 
attention entirely to the north side of the river, the much- 
desired interception would have been effected : for with 
horse, foot, and artillery it was not to be expected that a 
corps of infantry only could make good its landing in the 
face of an equal foe, and secure its arrival into Camden. 
Mortified with the result of their unceasing exertions, the 
deranging information was immediately forwarded to Gen- 
eral Greene, and the disappointed commandants moved 
upon Fort Motte." 

On the 3d of May Greene had received information of 
the delay which had attended Marion's movements to cut 
off Watson on the south of the Santee, and he foresaw 
that not a moment would be lost by Lord Rawdon in strik- 
ing a blow at the main army should Watson succeed in 
reachinsr Camden. Information had also been received of 
the advance of the Virginia militia which he had been so 
impatiently expecting. He resolved, therefore, to wait in 
covert whilst his detachments were overrunning the State. 
For this he had to thank Sumter's wisdom, as the whole 
country down to the mouth of the Congaree was now com- 
manded by Sumter's parties, protecting him against any 
attack from that quarter, and securing to him the provis- 
ions which had been husbanded by the enemy in that fertile 
part of the State, and from which he immediately began 
to draw supplies of meat, the great want in the American 
camp.2 

Anticipating Rawdon's advance as soon as joined by 
Watson, Greene had chosen a position nine miles in the 
rear of his encampment on Twenty-five Mile Creek. This 
was at a point just beyond the present dividing line 

1 3Iemoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 343. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 111. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 215 

between Kershaw and Fairfield counties, in the Latter, 
where tlie road, running parallel with the Wateree on its 
western side, crosses Colonel's Creek, the north bank of 
which was commanding. Here, he had determined, the 
enemy were to be met. 

On the 6th of May Greene wrote Sumter from Twenty- 
five Mile Creek : — 

" I am exceeding sorry that Col. Watson has foimd means to get 
into Camden. This reenf orcement, if Col. Small ^ is with Watson, will 
enable Lord Rawdon to attack us. I am also a little apprehensive 
for the safety of Col. Lee's detachment who is ordered to join the 
army on this side of the river. Should the enemy attempt anything 
against you or him you will form a junction, and for this purpose you 
will advise Col. Lee of your situation and point out to him the safest 
and best route to form a junction v/ith me. Don't run any great haz- 
ard until the Virginia militia come up, which will enable you to push 
your operations with rapidity and safety." "^ 

The date of this letter, the original of which is now 
before us, is undoubtedly the 6th ; and yet on the 7th 
Greene writes to Marion : " Col. Watson I find is on his 
way to Camden. This is a rather unfortunate circumstance, 
as the enemy will begin to be impudent and to show them- 
selves without their works, which they have never ven- 
tured upon since the morning of the 25th." ^ There is no 
doubt that it was on the 7th that Watson reached Camden, 
for Lord Rawdon so reports to Cornwallis.* On that night 
his lordship crossed the Wateree at Camden Ferry to turn 
the flank and attack the rear of Greene's army, where the 
ground was not strong.^ Greene had, however, moved 

^ In the MS. it appears to be "Small" or "Smole." There was no 
officer of such a name. It is doubtless Colonel Doyle who is meant. 

2 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 96, 97. 

« Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 67. 

* Tarleton's Campaigns, 476 ; Clinton- Cormoallis Controversy, vol. I, 
481. 

8 Ibid. 



216 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAUOLTNA 

early that afternoon. Breaking up his camp upon an 
hour's notice, he had fallen back to a safe position beyond 
an intermediate stream called Sawney's Creek and encamped 
for the night. Rawdon approached, drove in his pickets 
and examined his position, but, finding it so strong that he 
could not have forced it without much loss, he recvossed 
the Wateree and returned to Camden that evening. 

Upon the publication of Johnson's Life of Crreene, a bitter 
controversy took place between Mr. Henry Leo, the son of 
Colonel Lee, and the author of that work in regard to the 
course and views of General Greene at this time ; ^ but it 
is difficult now to perceive why Mr. Lee, the author of the 
Campaigns in the Carolinas, so warmly assailed the account 
given by Judge Johnson upon the authority of Colonel 
Davie, as his own differs with that rather in regard to the 
motives of the American commander upon the occasion 
than as to his conduct. They agree tliat at this time Gen- 
eral Greene had determined to give up his attempt for the 
recovery of the State, as Colonel Lee himself intimated 
that he intended to do, and to leave it to its fate. John- 
son's authority for this is a circumstantial and detailed 
account of a conference between Greene and Colonel Davie, 
who was then serving upon Greene's staff, as given by 
Davie himself.^ 

"This evening " [the 9th], says Davie, "the General sent for me ear- 
lier than usual ; I found the map on the table, and he introduced the 
business of the night with the following striking observations : ' You 
see we must again resume the partisan war. Rawdon has now a de- 
cided superiority of force — he has pushed us to a sufficient distance 
to leave him free to act on any object within his reach. He will strike 
at Lee and Marion, reenforce himself by all the troops that can be 
spared from the several garrisons, and push me back to the mountains. 

1 T%e City Gazette, Charleston, April, May, and June, 1822 ; Campaigns 
in the Garolinas (Lee), 1821. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 116-118. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 217 

You acted in this quarter in the last campaign. I wish you to point 
out the military positions on both sides the river ascending to the 
mountains, and give me the necessary information as to the prospect 
of subsistence. You observe our dangerous and critical situation. 
The regular troops are now reduced to a handful, and I am without mili- 
tia to perform the convoy or detachment service, or any immediate 
prospect of receiving any reenf orcement. . . . North Carolina dispirited 
by the loss of her regular troops in Charleston, stunned into a kind of 
stupor by the defeat of Gates, and held in check by Major Craig and 
the loyalists, makes no effort of any kind. Congress seems to have 
lost sight of the Southern States and have abandoned them to their 
fate, so much so that I am even as much distressed for ammunition 
as for men. 

" ' We must always calculate on the maxim " that your enemy will 
do what he ought to do." We will dispute every inch of ground in 
the best manner we can, but Rawdon will push me back to the moun- 
tains. Lord Cornwallis will establish a chain of posts along the 
James River and the Southern States thus cut off will die like the 
tail of a snake.' 

" These are his very words," says Davie. " They made a deep and 
melancholy impression and I shall never forget them. 

" After expressing an anxious desire to remain as near as possible 
to cover the retreat of Lee from Fort Motte, we recurred again to the 
map where I had it in my power to assure him from personal knowl- 
edge that the country abounded in strong positions ; and as to subsist- 
ence there would be no difficulty, as we should be falling back on our 
depots or magazines in North Carolina; that if he was obliged to 
retreat further he miLst permit me to resume my original plan, as I 
was morally certain a respectable force could be raised in the western 
districts of that State." . . . 

" General Greene possessed, in an eminent degree, those high ener- 
gies requisite to conquer appalling difficulties, united with that cool 
and moral courage which resists the anguish of disappointment and the 
pressure of misfortune. I never observed his mind yield but at this 
gloomy moment when he conceived himself not only abandoned by all 
the constituted authorities of the confederacy, but even by that por- 
tion of the population of the Southern States who had everything to 
hope from his success and everything to fear from his failure. I em- 
ployed the whole night in writing until an orderly sergeant sum- 
moned me to headquarters about daylight. On entering the General's 



218 HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tent I soon perceived some important change had taken place. 
' I have sent for you,' said he, with a countenance expressing the 
most lively pleasure, ' to inform you that Lord Rawdon is preparing 
to evacuate Camden — that place was the key of the enemy's line of 
posts, they will now all fall or be evacuated — all will i^ow go well. 
Burn your letters, I shall march immediately to the Congaree. Ar- 
range your convoys to follow us. And let me know what expresses 
and detachments you want." 

Mr. Lee, while severely criticising this statement, and 
doubting either the accuracy of Colonel Davie's recollec- 
tion, whose veracity he, however, declares is beyond impu- 
tation, or of Judge Johnson's recording, the inaccuracy of 
which he does not hesitate to charge as more probable, 
declares that the conversation, if correctly remembered by 
Colonel Davie, will show a surprising mutability of mind 
in General Greene and a variation of views on the same 
day which cannot be accounted for. But this is assuming 
the very matter in question. Was not this the very fault 
of General Greene's mind? Was he not subject alike to 
fits of confidence and despondency? How confident he 
was on the morning of the 25th of April, not only of de- 
feating Lord Rawdon, but of capturing his whole army ; 
and yet by night was lie not calling upon Sumter, Marion, 
and Lee, each and all, to hasten to his rescue ? Irresolu- 
tion and indecision of mind were characteristics which his 
enemies attributed to him, and to which they considered 
their victory at Hobkirk's Hill was owing.^ 

But, however that may be. Colonel Davie's statement, 
which was, no doubt, correctly given by Judge Johnson, 
presents the conduct of Greene in its most favorable aspect, 
for it represents him contemplating a retreat upon public 
grounds alone, and then only from position to position as 
he might be forced, after vigorous resistance ; while that of 

1 Annual Begister, vol. XXIV, 81. 



IN THE KEVOLUTIOX 219 

Dr. Irvine and Judge Peter Johnston represent him as bent 
upon a hasty and unconditional abandonment of the State, 
in which personal ambition was in a great measure the 
ruling motive ; and, strange to say, Mr. Lee greatly 
strengthens the latter view by the publication of a letter 
from General Greene to his fatlier, Colonel Lee, written 
on the very day in the evening of which General Davie 
states his interview with General Greene to have taken 
place. ^ It is as follows : — 

" Colonel's Creek, May 9, 1781. 
"Dear Sir: — I have not time to write in cyphers.^ Yours of the 
8th by Captain Davis was delivered me last evening. We have no 
further intelligence from Lord Cornwallis, and therefore I am per- 
suaded he has gone northerly. General Philips is at Petersburg, and 
our army beaten back ; but whether the Marquis or the Pennsylvania 
line has arrived I am not informed. Keep this a secret, as it is not 
known here. We moved our camp night before last from Twenty- 
five Miles Creek to Sandy Creek,^ five miles higher up the river. Lord 
Rawdon came out yesterday morning as I expected he would, and I 
suppose with an expectation of finding us at the old encampment. I 
did not like our new position to risk an action in, and ordered the 
troops to take a new p,osition at this place, four miles still higher up 
the river, leaving on the ground the horse, the pickets, and infantry. 
The enemy came up in front of our encampment and drew up in 
order of battle, but did not dare to attempt to cross the creek, and, 
after waiting an hour or two, retired suddenly towards Camden. 
Major Hyrne having made you fully acquainted with my general plan 
of operations it will be unnecessary for me to be more explicit on that 
head. It gives me great pleasure to find that your sentiments so per- 
fectly correspond with mine in all points excejjt the duty of^ 310 [Gen- 

* Campaigns in the Carolinas, 355-357. 

2 General Greene, it will be observed, was then in the habit of corre- 
sponding in cipher with Colonel Lee, and in cipher discussing Sumter and 
Marion, under whom he was yet placing Lee to operate. It will be seen, 
too, that he used the " alphabet of figures," which he had used in corre- 
spondence with his partners of Barnabas Deane & Co., while quarter- 
master. 

3 Sawney Creek. ■* Italics the author's. 



220 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

eral Greene i] . This I suppose you mean as a compliment, upon your 
general principles that all men are fond of flattery. But you iv'dl give 
me leave to tell you that if 306 [Lord Cornwallis] is gone to the northward 
great abilities will not he wanted here. The plan being laid, and a posi- 
tion taken, the rest will be a war of posts, and the most that will be left to 
be performed by the commanding officer until we come to Camden, is to 
make proper detachrnents and give command of them to proper officers. 
The plan being laid, the glory ivill belong to the executive officers executing 
the business. The benefit resulting from our operations will in a 
great measure depend upon the proper management of affairs in Vir- 
ginia. If the principal officer in the enemy's interest is there, who 
should be opposed to him? Which will be more honorable, to be 
active there or laying, as it were, idle here ? From whence comes our 
sujjplies to the quarter, and who is most likely to give timely and 
necessary support to all parts of the department ; one that has but a 
partial interest or one that is interested equally in all the parts? I 
am confident nothing will come to this army, and all things be in 
confusion if 310 [General Greene] was not to go to the northward. 
Therefore, whether taken up in a military, personal, or public view, I am 
decided it is his interest and duty to go, nor can I conceive the great in- 
conveniences will arise from it you mention. I am confident B s ^ 

will arrange matters very well and 310 [General Greene] will take 
care to direct him to the proper objects to employ. Much is to be 
done in Virginia, and without great prudence on our part matters may 
be reduced to great extremity there ; and depend upon it the enemy's 
great push will be against that State, as it may be said in some 
sorts to sever the continental interest asunder. More advantage will 
result from 310's [General Greene] going than staying ; for he can 
serve them more effectually yonder than here; and vanity will lead him 
to think that he can oppose the enemy more effectually there than those that 
will command if he don't go. I perceive that 312 [General Marion] is 
not satisfied, and I think you are not mistaken respecting 311 [General 
Sumter]. However, be careful, be cautious, be prudent, and, above 
all, attentive. This with men as well as with ladies goes a great 
way," etc. 

1 The names in brackets are those given in the text of Mr. Henry Lee's 
work. 

2 Supposed to refer to General Isaac Huger, who was next in command 
to General Greene, and with whom he would naturally leave any part of 
the Continentals he would not take with him to Virginia. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 221 

What a change had apparently come over this officer. 
When, adopting Lee's plan, he was about to return to South 
Carolina, he had written to General Washington from Deep 
River, March 29th : — 

" In this critical and distressing situation I am determined to carry 
the war immediately into South Carolina. The enemy will be obliged 
to follow us or give up his posts in that State. If the former takes 
place it will draw the war out of this State and give it an opportunity 
to raise its proportion of men. If they leave their posts to fall, they 
must lose more than they can gain here. If we continue in this State, 
the enemy will hold their possessions in both. All these things con- 
sidered I think the movement is warranted by the soundest reasons 
both political and military. The manoeuvre will be critical and 
dangerous, and the troops exposed to every hardship. But as I share 
it ivith them, I hope they will bear up under it with that magnanimity 
which has already supported them, and for which they deserve every- 
thing of their country." ^ 

He had thus contemplated both contingencies, and de- 
termined upon the move as a wise one, whether Cornwallis 
followed him into South Carolina, or left South Carolina to 
its fate and moved northwardly. In either event he would 
share with his troops the danger to which he would expose 
them in so critical a moment. The movement was made, 
and now, upon the first reverse, he determines to abandon 
the great enterprise he had so confidently inaugurated, and 
to desert the troops whom he had led upon so inglorious an 
expedition. " This letter," i.e. the letter to Lee of the 9th, 
says the author of the Campaigns in the Carolinas, " reveals 
a disposition of mind and a direction of views not only at 
variance, but incompatible with the sentiments contained 
in the statement given from Colonel Davie. In the latter 
General Greene is desponding, intent upon projecting his 
retreat, and solicitous for the safety of Lee. In the former 
his mind is buoyant and lively, his views ambitious and 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 37. 



222 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

extensive ; he considers the war in Carolina, whose pros- 
pective magnificence had tempted him from Deep River as 
curtailed in extent, limited in consequences, pale in repu- 
tation, and subordinate in dignity — deems the field which 
was soon to wave with laurels of Eutaw as destitute alike 
of danger and glory and no longer worthy of his abilities, 
and is decided, in spite of the remonstrances of Lee — 
always attentive to his general fame — to seek a more 
splendid theatre in Virginia and support and direct his 
lieutenant in Carolina, and, as he says, to satisfy in so 
doing his interests and duty in a military^ personal, and 
public point of vie to. ''^ ^ 

However wavering Greene's conduct was in this cam- 
paign, his views as represented by Davie and by his own 
letters do not appear as inconsistent as Mr. Lee contends. 
In either case his declared purpose was to abandon South 
Carolina. With Colonel Davie he discusses the movement 
in its public and military aspect. With Colonel Lee he con- 
siders it in its personal bearing upon his own reputation. 
In regard to the latter Mr. Lee observes : " It is impos- 
sible to foresee the extent or to be blind to the magnitude 
of the mischief which the execution of Greene's project 
would have produced. Had he proceeded to Virginia and 
abdicated the honors of the scene before him, however 
fine and generous his motive, the spirit and organization 
of his army, already greatly impaired, would have been 
abolished ; the comparative strength of the enemy doubled ; 
the Loyalists encouraged to a fearful preponderance ; the 
desultory ardor and dangerous activity of Marion and 
Pickens would have subsided ; the three Southern States 
been lost without a blow and the issue of the struggle, if 
not changed, at least grievously protracted. Recent from a 
defeat at Camden he would have appeared in Virginia with 
^ Campaigns in the Carolinas, 359. 



LN THE REVOLUTION 223 

the disgrace, but without the grandeur, of Gates's reverse — 
would soon have been superseded by Washington, and 
either retained as an inferior in command or ordered back 
to the South with less reputation and worse prospects than 
he had left behind him."^ 

From all of this the author of the Campaigns in the 
Carolinas claims that it was Lee's advice and remonstrance 
which saved his commander, and with a sneer at the desul- 
tory ardor and dangerous activity of Marion, without even 
the mention of Sumter, he attributes to the plan of which 
we think he has shown his father to be the author, all 
the success which followed. " And so irresistible was the 
design," he writes, " that although its execution was de- 
feated in two cardinal points by the wonderful spirit and 
vigor of Lord Rawdon ; although Greene with the main 
army did not succeed in a single effort incident to it, yet the 
enemy, twice demonstrated to be masters of the field, were 
rebuked by its genius, and vanquished by its strength. 
They drove Greene from Camden with disgrace and 
slaughter — they offered and he declined battle ; but the 
power of the plan, aided only by the swift though subordinate 
successes of Lee, either combined with Marion or alone, 
forced Lord Rawdon to yield the upper district and leave 
Ninety Six and Augusta to their fate." ^ 

Thus complacently does this author claim for his father 
all the results of the partisan warfare which had been 
carried on by the volunteers in South Carolina under 
Sumter, Davie, Marion, Pickens, and Harden ! to say 
nothing of what had been done by Shelby, Sevier, Cleve- 
land, Campbell, Clarke, and McCall. The important point 
to be noted here, however, is that Greene, who has been 
held up as a reconqueror and redeemer of South Carolina, 
had determined upon, and was on the point of, abandoning 
^ Campaigns in the Carolinas^ 362. ^ Ibid., 331-332. 



224 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the State ; and was only deterred from doing so by an 
event which he had but little part in bringing about. As 
far as General Greene is concerned, he had deliberately 
made up his mind to forsake South Carolina for a field 
in which he thought greater personal reputation could be 
achieved. 



CHAPTER X 

1781 

Lord Rawdon declares that he had always reprobated 
the station at Camden, not merely from the extraordinary 
disadvantages which attended it as an individual position, 
but from its being on the wrong side of the river and 
covering nothing, while it was constantly liable to have 
its communication with the interior district interrupted. 
Lord Cornwallis, he says, did not consider how much he 
augmented this objection, often urged to him, by an ar- 
rangement whereby he (Rawdon) was debarred from any 
interference with the district from which alone he could 
be fed, the country in front of Camden, as well as that 
between the Wateree and Broad River, being so wasted 
as to afford nothing beyond precarious and incidental sup- 
plies.i Sumter, Marion, and Lee each perceived this as 
well as Rawdon. Greene alone seems not to have appre- 
ciated its importance. Acting upon it during Greene's 
absence in North Carolina with the Continental troops, 
the volunteer bands under Sumter, Marion, Postell, and 
Harden had kept a continual warfare in Lord Rawdon's 
rear, had fought, as we have seen, twenty-six engagements, 
had taken his posts, seized upon his trains, captured his 
garrisons and convoys, and had killed, wounded, and taken 
prisoner many of his men. Colonel Lee is justly entitled, 
we think, to the credit of suggesting to and urging upon 

1 Letter to Colonel Lee, Appendix to Memoirs of the War of 1776, 
615. 

VOL. IV. — Q 225 



226 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

General Greene his return to South Carolina, and opera- 
tions here which would engage Lord Rawdon's attention 
at Camden while these attacks should be continued in his 
rear. But for the scheme of carrying on the war in this 
way as low down in the country as possible he has no claim 
to originality, as that was in successful operation before he 
proposed his plan to the commander. Sumter had pushed 
across Rawdon's rear to within fifty miles of Charlestown, 
besieged his posts, destroyed convoys, and captured pris- 
oners. Marion had beaten and pursued McLeroth, had 
fought Watson and driven him across the country to 
Georgetown ; Pickens had cut to pieces Dunlap's party in 
Ninety Six ; and Harden, carrying the war almost to the 
gates of Charlestown, had advanced still farther into the 
Low-Country and captured Fort Balfour, and when Lee 
returned to the State with Greene, was moving to form a 
junction with Pickens on the Savannah. Rawdon's com- 
munications were thus completely broken up before Lee's 
suggestion to Greene. This, indeed, was the very point 
of difference between Greene and Sumter. From his first 
assumption of the command Greene had discouraged and 
disparaged this system of warfare. The salvation of the 
army didn't depend upon " little strokes," he had written 
to Sumter. Partisan affairs in war, he said, were "like 
the garnish to a table, — they gave splendor to the army 
and reputation to the officers, but they afforded no sub- 
stantial national security." This war was not one of posts, 
he said, but of contests of States. Sumter, on the other 
hand, believed in the system of constant attrition, by which 
the invading army would be worn away piece by piece. 
Greene wished to see a battle in grand array. He wished 
to collect all his forces on some great field, and then lose 
or win it all in some famous action of whicli he would be 
the hero. He did not like this business in which his sub- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 227 

ordinates were achieving fame. Urging upon Colonel Lee 
the reasons of his wish to abandon South Carolina for what 
he thought a more conspicuous field, he makes this signifi- 
cant observation : " The plan being laid," that is, of par- 
tisan war on South Carolina, "and a position taken, the 
rest will be a war of posts, and the most that will be left 
to be performed by the commanding officer until we come 
to Camden is to make proper detachments, and give the 
command of them to proper officers. The plmi being laid, 
the glory will belong to the executive officer executing the busi- 
ness." It was this jealousy of Sumter, of Marion, and of 
Lee himself, which induced Greene to desire to have them 
under his immediate personal direction. But the British 
at home, as well as Lord Rawdon in the field, appreciated, 
as we have seen, very differently what had been accom- 
plished by the " little strokes " of one partisan leader.^ 

There was another aspect of vast importance in this sys- 
tem of warfare, which Greene overlooked. The breaking 
up of his posts and the interruptions of communication 
were the material results to the enemy ; but of far greater 
consequence was the moral effect upon the people of the 
State. The first fruit of Lord Rawdon's victory in his 
front, it was said in England, ^ was the general revolt of 
the whole interior country at his back ; so that the diffi- 
culties of his situation, instead of being removed or lessened 
by success, were increased to such a degree as to render 
them insurmountable. 

Greene's determination to abandon the State for a field of 
greater fame, as has been seen, was suddenly changed by 
the information that Lord Rawdon was preparing to evac- 
uate Camden. To this necessity his lordship had been 
reduced, not by the advance of Greene's army, for that he 
had so beaten on the 25th of April that it declined to 
1 Annual Register, vol. XXIV, 83. ^ Ibid. 



228 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

meet him again when he moved out to invite action on the 
7th of May, but by the operations in his rear. With his 
communications then entirely broken up, Lord Rawdon, on 
the 9th, published to the troops and to the loyal militia 
his design of abandoning Camden, and offering to such 
people of the latter place as chose to accompany the army 
all possible assistance. He spent the night in destroying 
the works, and in sending off, under a strong escort, his 
baggage. To cover the movement, the remainder of the 
troops continued at Camden until the following day was 
far advanced. The most valuable part of the stores were 
brought off and the rest destroyed. The mill, prison, court- 
house and other buildings were burnt, many private build- 
ings sharing the same fate. Camden was left a heap of 
ruins. The sick and wounded who were unable to bear a 
removal were of necessity abandoned, and the American 
prisoners left to remain with others as an exchange. The 
army brought off, not only the militia who had been attached 
to them at Camden, but the well affected to the Royal 
cause, who were afraid to fall into the hands of the Amer- 
icans, with their families, negroes, and movables taken 
equally under his lordship's protection.^ The loyal fami- 
lies who accompanied his lordship, were, however, cruelly 
neglected after their arrival in Charlestown. They built 
themselves huts without the line of fortifications, in a 
settlement called Rawdon Town, which, because of its 
poverty and wretchedness, became a term of reproach. 
Many women and children who had lived comfortably on 
farms near Camden soon died of want in their miserable 
habitations.^ 

Brilliant successes to Sumter and Marion with their par- 
tisan bands and Lee's Legion now followed in rapid suc- 

1 Aimual Eecjiste.r, vol. XXIV, 85. 

2 Ramsay's Revolution, vol. II, 232, 233. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 229 

cession. The 10th, 11th, 12th, and 15th of May were dis- 
tinguished by the fall of the British posts of Camden, 
Orangeburgh, Fort Motte, and Granby in the order of date. 
The assertion of Greene that Sumter had promised to join 
him with one thousand men by the 8th of May, it has been 
seen, was a mistake. But his old leaders, Taylor, Lacey, 
Winn, Bratton, Henry Hampton, and Mydelton, at once 
responded to his call, and were soon joined by the two 
other Hamptons, Richard and Wade ; while McCall, Purvis, 
Brandon, and Hammond came outunder Pickens, and were 
soon reenforced by Harden from Marion's corps, working 
his way across from the Pee Dee to Combahee and thence 
up the Savannah. 

Although disappointed greatly in the number of men and 
the provisions and stores he expected to collect, Sumter actu- 
ally commenced operations by the time he proposed. His 
first blow was aimed at a party collected in force on the 
Tyger River, but they fled before him ; whereupon, dividing 
his force into detachments, he simultaneously struck at 
several of the disaffected settlements, whilst a party was 
pushed down to the main army with the pittance of provi- 
sions he was enabled to collect, consisting only of about ten 
wagon loads. The country between the Broad and Saluda 
rivers and the Broad and Wateree was soon swept over; 
and on the 2d of May he laid siege to Fort Motte and Fort 
Granby on the south side of the Congaree. To assist in 
the investment of these places, Sumter had applied to 
Greene, while he lay at Twenty-five Mile Creek, for a six- 
pounder, which, on the 4th, Greene wrote, promising to 
send him.i The piece did not arrive, however, until after 
Marion and Lee, finding that Watson had eluded them, 
had appeared at Fort Motte. This post thus provided 

1 Sumter MSS., Tear Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 94, 
95. 



230 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

against, deeming the reduction of Granby secured, Sumter 
left Colonel Taylor there, in command of a strong party to 
keep up the investment ^ while he made a dash at Orange- 
burgh, taking with him the six-pounder Greene had sent 
him ; the sound of which he did not doubt was to bring 
that post to terms. The effort was crowned with success ; 
on the 11th the garrison surrendered, and some supplies, 
with a large stock of provisions and nearly one hundred 
men, were the fruits of victory. 

On the 11th Sumter was in readiness to return from 
Orangeburgh; but, intercepting one of Rawdon's expresses, 
he learned of his lordship's retreat from Camden, before 
Greene's despatch of the 10th, informing him of it, could 
reach him. Perceiving immediately that there was service 
to be performed on the line of Rawdon's communication 
between Camden and Charlestown, which he could very 
soon reach from his present position, he struck across the 
country towards Fort Motte for the purpose of uniting 
with Marion and Lee in front of Lord Rawdon, not doubt- 
ing that, with two field-pieces and their united forces, 
greatly to embarrass his lordship in the passage of the 
river at Nelson's Ferry. The south bank of the San tee 
was defended by a small fort, which he hoped to carry 
before Rawdon could approach the river. 

On arriving at Fort Motte, he found the place had 
fallen, that Marion had already proceeded upon the line 
of Rawdon's retreat, and Lee was advancing upon Fort 
Granby. There was still abundant time for Sumter to 
have returned and harvested the laurels that he had antici- 
pated from the fall of that place, upon which he had so 
much set his heart, and for which his faithful lieutenant, 
Colonel Taylor, had prepared the way during his absence 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 121 ; Life of General Edioard Lacey, 
24 ; Mills's Statistics of So. Cn., 71 G ; Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 251. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 231 

by SO harassing the garrison that they were ready to 
capitulate upon the firing of the first cannon-shot. But, 
regarding tlie ultimate fall of Granby as secured, Sumter 
turned his immediate attention to another matter of more 
pressing importance. The commanding officer of the 
British post at Nelson's Ferry had issued orders for 
the inhabitants to drive down their cattle, and to bring 
to the line of retreat to Charlestown all the means of 
transportation that they could command. All the country 
was in motion in pursuance of these orders. This 
Sumter determined to interrupt. Anticipating the pur- 
poses of the British commander, for two days he scoured 
the country around, seizing upon the means of transporta- 
tion and securing all the horses to prevent their falling 
into the hands of the enemy. ^ 

In the meanwhile, as soon as Marion and Lee ascertained 
that Watson had eluded them, the disappointed comman- 
dants moved upon Fort Motte, and on the 8th of May 
besieged it. Preparatory to Lord Rawdon's retreat, orders 
had been sent to Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger to abandon 
Ninety Six and to join Browne at Augusta, and to Major 
Maxwell, commanding at Fort Granby, to fall back upon 
Orangeburgh. But these orders had been intercepted. As 
soon as Greene was informed of the retreat of the enemy, 
persuaded that Rawdon's first effort would be directed to 
relieve Fort Motte, he advanced towards the Congaree, 
determined to pass that river if necessary, and to cover 
the operations of the besieging corps. 

This post was the principal depot of convoys from 
Charlestown to Camden, and sometimes of those destined 
for Fort Granby and Ninety Six. The fort consisted of 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 121-122 ; Mills's Statistics, 276, 716 ; 
Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 
20-21. 



232 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

field works around a large new mansion house belonging 
to Mrs. Rebecca Motte. A deep trench, along the interior 
margin of which was raised a strong and lofty parapet, 
surrounded the dwelling. To this post had been assigned 
an adequate garrison of about 150 men, which was now 
accidentally increased by a small detachment of dragoons 
which, on its way to Camden with despatches for Lord 
Rawdon, had arrived from Charlestown a few hours before 
the appearance of the American troops. Lieutenant Mc- 
Pherson, an officer highly and deservedly respected, com- 
manded the British post. Opposite to Fort Motte, to the 
north, stood another hill, where Mrs. Motte, having been 
turned out of her mansion, resided in an old farmhouse. 
On this height Colonel Lee, with his corps, took post, 
while General Marion occupied the eastern declivity of 
the ridge on which was the fort. 

The fort was soon completely invested ; the six-pounder 
was mounted on a battery erected in Marion's quarter 
for the purpose of raking the northern face of the 
enemy's parapet, against which Lee was preparing to 
advance. McPherson was unprovided with artillery, and 
depended for safety upon timely relief, not doubting its 
arrival before the assailants could complete their prepara- 
tions. 

The valley which ran between the two hills admitted 
safe approach within four hundred yards of the fort. This 
place was selected by Lee to break ground. Relays of 
working parties being provided for every four hours, and 
negroes from the neighboring plantations brought by the 
influence of Marion to their assistance, the works advanced 
with rapidity. Such was their forwardness on the 10th 
that it was determined to summon the commandant. A 
flag was accordingly despatched to McPherson, stating to 
him with truth their relative situations, and admonishing 



IN THE REVOLUTION 233 

him in the phrases of the time to avoid the disagreeable 
consequences of an arrogant temerity. To this McPherson 
calmly replied that, disregarding consequences, he should 
continue to resist to the last moment. The retreat of 
Rawdon was known in the evening to the besiegers, and 
in the course of the night a courier arrived from General 
Greene confirming the report, urging redoubled activity, 
and announcing his determination to hasten to their sup- 
port. Urged by these strong considerations, Marion and 
Lee persevered throughout the night in pressing the com- 
pletion of their works. On the next day Rawdon reached 
a position opposite Fort Motte; and in the succeeding 
night, encamping on the highest ground in his route, the 
illumination of his fires announced his approach to the de- 
spairing garrison. But in vain. 

The large mansion in the centre of the trench left but 
a few yards of the ground uncovered ; burning the house 
must therefore force a surrender. Confident that their 
trenches would be within reach before noon of the next day, 
Marion and Lee determined to adopt the plan of setting 
fire to the buildings in the fort. This measure was reluc- 
tantly adopted. The devoted house was a large, pleasant 
edifice, intended for the summer residence of Rebecca 
Motte, whose deceased husband, Jacob Motte, a prominent 
citizen, had taken an active part in the earlier Revolu- 
tionary movement, and whose daughter was the wife of 
Major Thomas Pinckney, then a prisoner, since Gates's de- 
feat, in the hands of the British. In addition to these con- 
siderations Lee had made the farmhouse in which Mrs. 
Motte resided outside the works liis quarters, at her press- 
ing invitation, and with his officers had shared her liberal 
hospitalit}'. Not only the lieutenant colonel, but every 
officer of his corps off duty had daily been entertained by 
Mrs. Motte, while she had also visited and ministered to the 



234 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

sick and wounded in the American camp. Nevertheless it 
was determined that the house must be burned. Taking the 
first opportunity which offered, the next morning Colonel 
Lee informed Mrs. Motte of the intended measure, lament- 
ing the necessity, and assuring her of the deep regret which 
it occasioned. The smile with which the communication 
was received gave instant relief to the embarrassed officer. 
Mrs. Motte not only assented, but declared that she was 
" gratified with the opportunity of contributing to the good 
of her country, and should view the approaching scene 
with delight." Shortly after, seeing accidentally the bow 
and arrows which had been prepared, she sent for Colonel 
Lee, and presenting him with a quiver of arrows im- 
ported from India, which ignited on percussion, she re- 
quested his substitution of these as probably better adapted 
for the object than those he had provided. Colonel Lee 
gladly accepted the offer, and everything was prepared for 
the concluding scene. The lines were manned and an 
additional force stationed at the batter}^ lest the enemy 
should determine to risk a desperate assault as offering the 
only cliance of relief. As the troops reached their several 
points a flag was again sent to McPherson, summoning 
him to surrender. Dr. Lvine of the Legion was charged 
with the message, and instructed to communicate frankly 
the inevitable destruction impending, and the impractica- 
bility of relief, as Lord Rawdon had not yet passed the 
Santee. But the gallant young British officer in command 
of the post remained immovable, repeating his determina- 
tion of holding out to the last. 

It was now about noon, and the scorching sun had pre- 
pared the shingle roof for an easy conflagration. The 
return of Irvine was immediately followed by a flight of 
the arrows. The first struck and communicated its fire; 
a second was shot at another quarter of the roof; and a 



IN THE REVOLUTIOK 235 

third at still another part of it. This last also took effect, 
and like the first soon kindled a blaze. McPherson, still 
undaunted, ordered a party to repair to the loft of the 
house, and by knocking off the shingles to stop the flames. 
This was stopped as soon as perceived, by Captain Finley, 
who v/as directed to open his battery, raking the loft from 
end to end. The fire of the six-pounder posted close to one 
of the gables soon drove the soldiers down, and no other 
efforts to stop the flames being practicable, McPherson 
hung out the white flag. To the charge that he had sub- 
jected himself to punishment by the idle waste of his 
antagonist's time and neglect of opportunities which had 
been presented to him of saving himself and garrison from 
unconditional submission, the British officer frankly ac- 
knowledged his situation, and declared his readiness to 
meet any consequence which the discharge of his duty, 
according to his own conviction of right, might entail. His 
gallantry was rewarded and terms were accorded him. 
His officers and himself accompanied their captors, and 
partook with them a sumptuous dinner, at which Mrs. 
Motte herself did the honors with unaffected politeness to 
friend and foe alike, regardless of the injury the necessi- 
ties of one and the duty of the other had caused, in the 
attempted destruction of her mansion. ^ At the request 
of McPherson his officers and himself were paroled and 
sent off that evening to Lord Rawdon, then crossing the 
Santee at Nelson's Ferry. 

^Memoirs of the War of 1776, 345-348. The author has followed 
closely Colonel Lee's account of this interesting and romantic incident, 
and as Colonel Lee was present and a principal participator in the events, 
he must be deemed the best authority. James, in his Life of Marion, 
however, denies that the house was fired by arrows. He states that it 
was fired by a private in Marion's brigade, who slung a ball of rosin and 
brimstone on the roof (p. 120). Mrs. Ravenel in her Eliza Lucas, of 
Scribner's Women of Colonial and B evolutionary Times (p. 299), tells that 



236 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Soon after the capitulation Greene, anxious for its suc- 
cess, attended by an escort of cavalry, reached Fort Motte 
for the purpose of learning precisely the situation. Find- 
ing the siege concluded, he returned to camp, having 
directed Marion, after placing the prisoners in security, to 
proceed against Georgetown, and ordering Lee to advance 
without delay upon Fort Granby, to which place his army 
would also move. Lee set out immediately with his de- 
tachment, composed of horse, foot, and artillery, and, 
marching without intermission, he approached the neigh- 
borhood of Fort Granby before dawn of the second day. 

Fort Granby was erected on a plain which extended to 
the southern banks of the Congaree, near Friday's Ferry,^ 
on what is now the Lexington side of the river. Protected 
on one side by that river, it was accessible on every other 
quarter with facility. Colonel Lee in his 3Iemoirs states 
that, being completely furnished with parapet, encircled by 
fosse and abatis, and being well garrisoned, it could not 
have been carried without considerable loss except by reg- 
ular approaches, and in this way would have employed the 
whole force of Greene for a week at least, in which period 
Lord Rawdon's interposition was practicable ; that he there- 
fore determined to press to the conclusion of his operations 
with all possible celerity. As soon as he reached the 
neighborhood, relying upon the information of the guides, 

the quiver of arrows had been given many years before to Mrs. Motte's 
brother Miles Brewton by the captain of an East Indiaman. Mrs. Kave- 
nel is a ereat-granddanirhter of Uobi'cca Motte. The late Rev. Charles 
Cotesworth Pinckney, D.D., a grandson of Mrs. Motte, in his Life of his 
grandfather, General Thomas rinckneij, states that the arrows were fired 
from rifles, not shot from bows, and in this Mrs. Ravenel's account agrees. 
Immediately upon the surrender the flames were extinguished and the 
house saved. See also note by A. S. Salley, Jr., editor So. Ca. Hist, and 
Gen. Mag., vol. II, 149-150. 

1 Sometimes spelt Fi'idig's Ferry. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 237 

he began to erect a battery in the margin of the woods 
to the west of the fort. The morning was uncommonly- 
foggy, which fortunate circumstance gave time to finish 
the battery before it was perceived by the enemy. Cap- 
tain Finley with his six-pounder mounted in battery, was 
directed, as soon as the fog should disperse, to open upon 
the fort, when the infantry, ready for action, would ad- 
vance to gain the ground selected for the commencement 
of their approaches. The garrison consisted of 350 men, 
chiefly loyal militia commanded by Major ^Maxwell (a 
Loyalist from the eastern shore of Maryland) of the 
Prince of Wales's Regiment. This officer is represented 
as the exact opposite of McPherson, one disposed to avoid 
rather than to court the daring scenes of war. Zealous to 
fill his purse rather than to gather military laurels, he had 
during his command pursued his favorite object with con- 
siderable success, and held with him in the fort his gathered 
spoils. Lee states that, solicitous to hasten the surrender 
of the post, he determined to try the effect of negotiation 
with his pliable antagonist, and prepared a summons, 
couched in pompous terms, calculated to operate upon such 
an officer as Maxwell was represented to be. The sum- 
mons was intrusted to Captain Eggleston of the Legion, 
who was authorized to conclude finally upon the terms of 
capitulation if he found the enemy disposed to surrender. 
The fog disappearing, Finley's gun announced the unex- 
pected proximity of Lee's command, and in the fort alarm 
and confusion followed. The Legion infantry advanced 
at the same time, and took possession of the desired ground 
without opposition, cutting off the enemy's pickets in that 
quarter of the fort. Eggleston, now setting out with his 
flag, caused a suspension of the fire, whereupon the enemy's 
pickets and patrols, so cut off, attempted to regain the 
fort. This effort was partially checked by the rapid move- 



238 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ment of the cavalry, and an officer was despatched to Cap- 
tain Eggleston requiring him to remonstrate with Major 
Maxwell upon the impropriety of the conduct of his pickets 
and patrols, and to demand that he Avould order them to 
resume their stations. Eggleston's remonstrance was re- 
spected, and Maxwell sent his adjutant with the required 
orders. Negotiations were then begun, and Maxwell was 
himself inclined to accept the proposition submitted to him 
by Captain Eggleston; but after consulting with some of 
his officers, in turn he offered to deliver up the fort upon 
condition that private property of every sort, without inves- 
tigation of title, should be confirmed to its possessors; that 
the garrison should be permitted to return to Charlestown 
prisoners of war until exchanged; that the militia should 
be held in the same manner as the regulars, and that an 
escort charged with the protection of persons and of prop- 
erty should attend the prisoners to the British army. 

The first condition, as it prevented the restoration of 
plundered property, Captain Eggleston did not think 
proper to accept, but submitted by letter the enemy's 
demands to Colonel Lee, with one from Major Maxwell re- 
quiring two covered wagons for the conveyance of his own 
baggage free from search. In reply Eggleston received 
directions to accede to the proposed terms, with the 
single exception of all horses fit for public service, and 
to expedite the conclusion of the business. This exception 
was not approved by many of Maxwell's officers, but was 
not resisted by him. Finding that the capitulation would 
be thus concluded, the Hessian officers in the garrison came 
in a body to Eggleston, protesting against proceeding with 
the negotiation unless they were permitted to retain their 
horses — a protest not to be overruled by the authority of 
Maxwell. The negotiation was suspended and a second 
time Eggleston found it necessary to refer to Lee. About 



J 



IN THE REVOLUTION 239 

this time, says that officer, a diagoon arrived with the 
information that Lord Rawdon had crossed the Santee, 
and was advancing towards Fort Motte. Had he deter- 
mined to resist the requisition of the Hessian officers, he 
adds, this intelligence would have induced a change in 
his decision. He directed Captain Egglestou to make 
known to the officers that he took pleasure in gratifying 
them by considering all horses belonging to individuals 
in the fort as private property, and claiming only such, 
if any, as belonged to the public. 

This obstacle being removed, the capitulation was signed, 
and the principal bastion was immediately occupied by 
Captain Rudulph with a detachment of the Legion in- 
fantry. Before noon Maxwell with his garrison, con- 
sisting of 340 men (60 regulars, the rest Loyalists), the 
baggage of every sort, two pieces of artillery, and two 
covered wagons, moved from the fort, and the major 
with the garrison protected by the stipulated escort pro- 
ceeded on their route to Lord Rawdon. The public 
stores, consisting chiefly of ammunition, salt, and liquors, 
were secured, and presented a valuable supply to the 
American army. The moment Maxwell surrendered Lee 
despatched an officer with the information to General 
Greene, who was then within a few miles of Friday's Ferry, 
just opposite the fort. The army continued its march to 
Ancrum's plantation near the ferry and the general, cross- 
ing the river, joined his light corps. 

The tide of affairs had indeed turned in favor of the 
American cause. The posts of Camden, Orangeburgh, Fort 
Motte, and Balfour had all fallen within a few days. And 
yet it was in the midst of these brilliant achievements that 
the cause of liberty had nearly lost the services of its two 
principal supports in South Carolina. Both Marion and 
Sumter tendered to General Greene their resignations dur- 



2.10 HISTOllY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ing these movements. In each mstance the conduct of 
Colonel Lee was the cause of dissatisfaction. 

Greene's greatest necessity and most pressing want 
was for horses upon which to mount his dragoons. As 
Congress had practically abandoned the Southern Depart- 
ment to its fate, he could obtain no horses to supply 
Washington's and Lee's men from that source; while the 
hard service to which the cavalry had been exposed in a 
country infested with Loyalists, and in which it was 
necessary to forage at a distance, had exhausted those he 
had. Thus it was that at the battle of Hobkirk's Hill but 
thirty-one out of eighty-seven dragoons could be mounted 
for service. As all the drafts made upon the States at 
this time were for specific supplies, Virginia, the great mart 
for good horses, had been called upon to supply a great 
number ; and Greene's effort to obtain these animals had 
caused the interference of the legislature of that State, 
that put an end to all hopes of a supply from that quarter. 
From North Carolina he could get none. And so his 
despatches announcing his return to the State were accom- 
panied with calls upon Sumter and Marion, not only to 
raise men to join him without pay or reward, but to find 
horses for his Continental troops. Every letter which he 
addressed to these officers contained a demand to collect 
horses by impressment or otherwise. But from the very 
nature of the service horses were as essential to Sumter 
and Marion as they were to Greene himself. Their fol- 
lowers were volunteers with families, dej)endent upon 
them for support, who mounted their plough horses to ride 
upon expeditions, and when the immediate occasion was 
over returned to their fields. It was impossible to take 
these horses — indeed, to have attempted to do so would 
have driven their owners into the British camps. It was 
scarcely less politic oi- practicable to take the horses of 



IN THE REVOLUTION 241 

those friends of independence whom age or necessity 
compelled to remain at home, for upon those depended 
the crops, the sole means of the support alike of the 
friendly inhabitants of tlie country and of the army. The 
only horses, therefore, available for general military pur- 
poses were those which could be taken from the British 
army or Loyalists. But neither Sumter nor ]\Iarion were 
disposed to be used in this matter as foragers and pur- 
veyors for the use of the Continental troops, who might 
at any time abandon the State to their care, as they had 
twice done before in the last year — and upon doing which 
for a third time Greene indeed was then actually deter- 
mined. If Washington and Lee needed horses, let them 
get them from Congress or themselves take them from the 
enemy. The horses Sumter and Marion captured they 
needed to mount volunteers or men who enlisted in the 
regiments they were endeavoring to raise for service in 
the State, upon which they could rely. Besides all this, 
they naturally resented the implication of haughty supe- 
riority with which they were thus ordered to furnish sup- 
plies for those who had not done more for the service of 
the country than themselves. While these sentiments were 
entertained the first open cause of offence was given to 
Marion. 

Colonel Lee, in a letter to General Greene, wrote: 
" General Marion can supply you, if he will, with 150 
good dragoon horses, most of them impressed horses. 
He might, in my opinion, spare 60, which would be 
a happy supply." Upon the receipt of this letter Greene 
became very excited, and wrote to Marion a communica- 
ticn in which he is said to have made no effort to con- 
ceal or suppress his indignation that Marion, knowing 
his necessities and possessing the power to relieve them, 
should have failed to do so. In reply Marion repelled the 

VOL. IV. — R 



242 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

charge, and requested leave to resign, firmly but respect- 
fully intimating his determination to retire from the service 
as soon as he should have seen Fort Motte reduced, before 
which he was then lying with Lee. Greene perceived the 
mischief he had done, and by earnest and flattering solicita- 
tions, with difficulty succeeded in overcoming Marion's 
resolution. " My reasons for writing so pressingly respect- 
ing the dragoon horses," wrote Greene, " was the distress 
we were in. It is not my wish to take the horses from 
the militia if it will injure the public service ; the effects 
and consequences you can better judge than I can." ^ 

Marion was pacified, turned the affair off upon grounds 
that proved his feelings soothed, and his answer to Greene's 
letter was accompanied with a fine horse for the general's 
own use. But from that time he gave up the siege to Lee, 
cooperating more to cover his operation than to direct him. 
In the meanwliile, his followers, taking the alarm at the 
idea of being dismounted, soon began to scatter, until his 
command was reduced to 150. With these, as soon as 
Fort Motte surrendered, he struck down towards Monck's 
Corner, and hung upon Rawdon's flanks during the whole 
of his retreat to that place. ^ 

Having thus offended and repelled Marion, Lee's con- 
duct gave still greater offence to Sumter. The plan of 
operating against the posts on the west of Congaree, that 
is, Ninety Six, Granby, Motte, and Orangeburgh, liad been 
Sumter's scheme, to which he was devoted, and in favor of 
which he had, with some difficulty, obtained the Com- 
mander-in-chief's concurrence. As early as the 2d of May, 
while Marion and Lee were endeavoring to intercept 
Watson, Sumter had commenced operations against Fort 

1 Johnson's Z//e of Greene, vol. IT, 115, 116; Gibbes's Documentary 
Hist. (1781-82). 68. " 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 115, IIG. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 243 

Granby and Fort Motte. Regarding the fall of Granby a 
mere matter of time, he had left Colonel Taylor to cut off 
Maxwell's supplies and to continue the investment while 
he struck below, at the post at Orangeburgh. This he had 
successfully done, and had then been led away to secure 
the supplies in the country through which llawdon must 
pass on the retreat which he had commenced from Cam- 
den. While thus engaged, Lee, having offended Marion, 
had carried off the honor of the reduction of Fort Motte, 
and Sumter now learned had proceeded to anticipate him 
in that of Granby. Sumter's disposition was not one 
which would brook interference ; nor was he without good 
reason in objecting to the regulars coming in at this time 
and taking from his followers the advantages and glory 
of a successful issue of the efforts they had made for the 
recovery of these posts, while the Continentals had been 
solicitous only of the security of their retreat after the loss 
of Hobkirk's Hill. Successes achieved by the volunteer 
soldiery, he thought, were far more efficacious in arousing 
and sustaining the spirit of resistance in the people of the 
States than victories by regulars. The former encouraged 
the wavering to side with their fellow-citizens who had 
thus shown themselves able to cope with the enemy with- 
out assistance. The latter, while good in themselves, 
added nothing- to the confidence of the inhabitants in their 
own resources. Sumter had set his heart upon the capture 
of this post by his own troops without Continental assist- 
ance, not only for the material advantages to follow for 
them, but far more for the moral effect such achievement 
would produce. Not at all improbably there were mingled 
with these just sentiments for the public good, personal 
resentment that another should step in and deprive him of 
the honor which the plans he had so conceived and so 
steadfastly maintained were just about to bestow upon 



244 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

him. It was probably with these mixed motives and senti- 
ments that on the 14th he wrote to Greene : " I hope 
it may not be disagreeable to recall Colonel Lee, as his 
services cannot be v/anted at that place [Granby] ; and as 
to his taking command, as at the post at Motte, I cannot 
believe it would be your wish. And notwithstanding I 
have the greatest respect for Colonel Lee, yet I could wish 
he had not gone to that place, as it is a circumstance I 
never thought of ; his cavalry can be of no service there, 
and may be of the greatest here. I have been at great 
pains to reduce that post — I have it in my power to do 
it — and I think it for the good of the public to do it with- 
out regulars." 1 Having written thus to the general com- 
manding, he hurried on to Granby, to learn, before he 
reached the post, that Lee had accepted the capitulation. 

The fact that Lee had thus snatched from Sumter's men 
and himself the honor of the recovery of the post was pro- 
voking enough to a man of his temperament; but his in- 
dignation knew no bounds when he learned the terms 
which had been given to Maxwell. The fort had been 
the depot of all the plunder that Maxwell and his party 
had been rioting in for months past, and the place of 
refuge of the most obnoxious Loyalists. It had now been 
invested for some time by Colonel Taylor's command, the 
very men who had suffered under the rapine of its garri- ] 
son, and they had been solacing themselves with the hope 
of restitution, indemnity, and revenge. In all these they 
were disappointed, and compelled to look on and see cov- 
ered wagons, drawn by their own horses, crammed with 
plunder from their farms, and their own slaves, all carried 
away before their eyes by Hessians and Tories, under the 
escort of Lee's Legion. Feeling ran high at the sight, 
it may well be imagined ; but when, the next morning, 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 122. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 245 

Colonel Lee's own men paraded, equipped in new clothing, 
while the patriot soldiers were left to prosecute the war 
in rags, then even Colonel Lee's motives were drawn into 
question, and a bitterness engendered which was never 
allayed. 

Sumter had surely no right to expect that the taking of 
the post would be delayed by Greene to suit his conven- 
ience or to gratify his ambition; but, on the other hand, he 
had cause for just indignation if the capitulation had been 
hurried merely to deprive him of its honor, especially if, 
in order to hasten it for this purpose, improper terms had 
been granted to the enemy. That Maxwell obtained every 
advantage in the negotiation for surrender is clear. The 
conditions allowed were such that, though Captain Eggle- 
ston was intrusted with the fullest powers to conclude 
finally upon the terms if he found the enemy disposed to 
surrender, he declined to act upon his authority, and re- 
quired the sanction of Lee himself to them. The first, as 
Lee himself declares, was diametrically repugnant to the 
course contemplated by him, as it prevented the restoration 
of plundered property. And yet Lee allowed them, and 
permitted Maxwell to march off under escort, carrying off 
the property of men who stood by with arms in their 
hands. The hasty granting of such terms certainly de- 
mands some explanation, and this Lee has attempted to 
give ; the fact of the receipt of information of Lord Raw- 
don's advance, he declares, would have determined him 
had he not already decided upon his action. But the facts 
of the situation will scarcely justify his precipitancy. 

Maxwell's garrison did not actually number 350 men, 

but 60 of whom were regulars, the rest loyal militia. 

Lee's own corps numbered about 300 ^ when he returned 

to South Carolina, and they had since lost but few 

^ See authorities cited, ante. 



246 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

men in action. If we exclude for the present Colonel 
Taylor's regiment, whose presence Lee does not mention, 
but which was doubtless at hand, it must be remembered 
that Greene's army was just across the Congaree River at 
Friday's Ferry, while at this time, the 14th of May, Lord 
Rawdon was but crossing the Santee at Nelson's Ferry, 
nrore than sixty miles distant, with Marion upon his flanks, 
and Sumter between Lee and himself. It turned out that 
Rawdon was not coming that way at all, that in fact he 
was retreating in the opposite direction, to Monck's Corner. 
But Lee did not know that; his information by Captain 
Armstrong was that Rawdon was advancing^ towards Fort 
Motte, which was on the way to Granby. Still, even had 
that been so, Rawdon could scarcely have reached Granby 
before two days were Sumter and Marion not in his 
way. There was, therefore, no cause for any precipitancy; 
and it can scarcely be doubted that Lee's ambition to 
add another to his list of captures had induced him to 
grant terms to Maxwell which should never have been 
allowed. 

Sumter, in his anger at Lee's conduct, tendered his resig- 
nation, and sent on his commission to General Greene. It 
has been asserted that Greene compelled Lee to apologize 
to Sumter.i This is probably an exaggeration of what did 
take place. 

Whether through apology or explanation, it is more than 
probable that Lee exerted himself to reconcile Sumter, who 
was pacified, if not convinced and satisfied. On the 17th 
of May General Greene wrote to Sumter : — 

" I take the liberty to return you your commission which yoii for- 
warded me yesterday for my acceptance & to inform you that I can- 
not think of accepting it & to beg you to continue your command. 

" I am sorry for your ill health and shall do everything in my 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 123. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 247 

power to render your command as convenient as the nature of your 
service will admit. 

" It is unnecessary for me to tell you how important your services 
are to the interest and happiness of this country and the confidence 
I have in your abilities and zeal for the good of the service. Your 
continuing in command will lay the public in general, and me in par- 
ticular, under very great obligations & tho' it may be accompanied 
with many personal inconveniences yet I hope you will have cause 
to rejoice in the conclusion of the business from the consideration 
of having contributed so largely to the recovery of its liberty." 

Well, perhaps, it might have been had General Greene 
accustomed himself usually to write in this strain in regard 
to Sumter to others as well as to Sumter himself, espe- 
cially to Colonel Lee. But, as it has appeared, the gen- 
eral wrote to others in very different terms of this officer, 
repeatedly and querulously referring, as the author of the 
Campaigns in the Carolinas observes, to the failure of Sum- 
ter to join him with one thousand men as the cause of 
his defeat at Hobkirk's Hill.^ General Greene was indeed 
unhappy in his correspondence during the campaign. 
Johnson, commenting upon tlie fact that, from April 14th 
until the siege of Fort Motte, Lee acted under the com- 
mand of Marion, observes that Greene's official corre- 
spondence was exclusively with Marion " as commander of 
the party." " Colonel Lee," he says, " often writes also to 
General Greene, but if answers were returned they must 
be considered as private, since no copies of such answers 
are to be found among the official papers." Unfortunately, 
though no official copies may have been kept, Greene 
not only received, but invited, communications from Lee, 
while under Marion's command by his orders, and appears 
regularly to have replied to them.^ No more uncomforta- 

1 Campaigns in the Carolinas (Lee), 363. 

2 See Greene's letter to Lee, Campaigns in the Carolinas, Appendix, 
X, xii, xiii ; Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 51, 61, 63, 



248 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ble relation could possibly have been created, nor one more 
certain to lead to misundertanding, if not to rupture. 
And so the result proved. Writing to Lee, Greene criti- 
cises and expresses doubts of Sumter's good faith, and in 
reply Lee complains against Marion who, he charges, is 
withholding supplies due the Commander-in-chief. Such 
a correspondence was in violation of the most essential 
principles of military rule, and should never have been 
allowed. Once Lee was put under Marion's command, no 
communication should have passed between the Commander- 
in-chief and Lee except through Marion himself. 



CHAPTER XI 

1781 

Lord Rawdon, on his retreat from Camden, was met 
at Nelson's Ferry by Colonel Balfour, the commandant of 
Charlestown, who came to represent to him, and to con- 
sult upon, the affairs of the city, as well as of the province 
in general. He stated that the revolt was now universal, 
and so little had this serious and alarming turn of affairs 
been apprehended that the old works of the town had 
been levelled to make way for new, which had not yet 
been constructed ; ^ that he had the fullest conviction of 
the disaffection in general of the inhabitants ; and that 
under these circumstances his garrison was inadequate 
to its defence against any force of consequence that 
might attempt the city. The royal militia in the city 
were in such a state of mutiny that a part of them had 
to be disarmed; they were ready, it was said, to seize 
the gates of the town if Greene would present himself 
suddenly before them.^ The conclusions drawn from 
this untoward state of affairs were that, if misfortune 
happened to the corps under Lord Rawdon, the probable 

1 The old works had been levelled by order of Lord Cornwallis in January, 
1781, before he moved into North Carolina. Nev/ ones designed had not 
been erected. This yvus one of the strongest points made by Sir Henry 
Clinton against his lordship in their bitter controversy. {Clinton- Corn- 
loallis Controversy, vol. I, 484.) 

■^Letter from Marquis of Hastings, Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 
Appendix, 613; Clintoti- Cornwallis Controversy, vol. I, 484. 

249 



250 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

consequence would be the total loss of the province, in- 
cluding the capital ; but that, although the highest degree 
of prudence and caution were upon that account indis- 
pensably necessary, yet, as he was just joined by Major 
McArthur with about three hundred foot and eighty 
dragoons, Lord Rawdon conceived he might, without 
hazarding too much, endeavor to check the operations of 
the enemy on the Congaree.^ 

And now was manifested the excellent work that Sum- 
ter had done while Lee was snatching from him the laurels 
at Fort Motte and Granby. So completely had he cleared 
the country that, it is stated, for five days after Lord 
Rawdon had passed the Santee not a single person of 
any sort whatever, whether with intelligence or on any 
other account, came near the arm}^, although he had ad- 
vanced directly from Nelson's Ferry tliat night and the 
following day to a point where the roads from Nelson's 
and McCord's ferries met. Nor could the scouts and 
spies which he detached on all hands procure him any 
reliable intelligence as to the situation of the enemy or 
the state of the country. A number of reports, however, 
which were contradictory in other respects, seemed to 
concur in one point, which was that Greene had passed 
the Congaree and was pushing down the Oiungeburgh 
road with a strong force. This report was of too great 
moment to be slighted, and not only obliged the British 
commander to relinquish his design of advancing to the 
Congaree, but caused him to fall back to the Eutaws 
and thence to Monck's Corner, for the protection of Charles- 
town and of the rich intervening country. So meagre 
was his intelligence and so difficult to be obtained, that 
it was not until after his arrival at Monck's C -^r that 

^Annual Register, 1781, vol. XXIV, 85 ; Clinton-CornicccUis Contro- 
versy, vol. I, 481, 485. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 251 

Lord Rawdon discovered it was not General Greene, 
but Sumter only, who bad taken possession of Orange- 
burgh, ^ 

Sumter's genius at once took in the situation. He per- 
ceived that now had occurred the opportunity for strik- 
ing a blow with Greene's united forces. Tlie audacity of 
his own attack upon Granby and Orangeburgh, of Mar- 
ion's upon McLeroth, Doyle, and Watson, and Harden's 
brilliant strokes in the Low-Country during the absence 
of Greene in North Carolina, and the fall of all the 
British posts on the Congaree since his return, had turned 
the popular tide in favor of the American cause, had 
strengthened the weak and determined the wavering, 
and, as he conceived, had prepared the way for decisive 
action. Delighting in vigorous enterprise, says Johnson, 
and appreciating the effect of these successes upon the 
spirit of the enemy as well as upon that of the people 
of the country, Sumter strenuously urged upon Greene 
that, united with Lee, Marion, and himself, he should now 
fall upon Rawdon. The British force outside of Charles- 
town, he believed, could now be destroyed and the cam- 
paign ended. 2 The respective numbers of the two armies 
now warranted the attempt. Greene had present at the 
battle of Hobkirk's Hill 939 men. He had lost in that 
engagement 268 men, leaving him 671 ; Major Eaton had 
soon after joined him with 220 North Carolina levies ; 
Lee's Legion numbered 300. Putting Marion's men at 
but 150, to which number they were said to have been 
reduced by the apprehension that their horses were to be 
taken from them, and Sumter's at 500, Greene at this 
time must have had between 1800 and 1900 men. On 

^Annual Begister, 1781, vol. XXIV, 86-87 ; Clinton-Cornwallis Contro- 
versy, vol. I, 480, 480. 
2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 124. 



252 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the other hand, Lord Rawdon, at the battle of Hobkirk's 
Hill, had but 900 men, of whom 258 had been lost, and 
his only reenforcement since had been Watson's corps, 
which the Americans estimated at 600, but the British 
at 500,1 a^(j McArthur's, which joined him when he 
crossed Nelson's Ferry, of 380.^ His lordship had there- 
fore probably not more than 1600 or 1700 men present 
with him at the Eutaws in May. When the decisive ac- 
tion did take place, four months afterwards, these propor- 
tions were changed, and General Greene was compelled then 
to meet a force equal, if not superior, to his own in numbers, 
and from which the effects of the disasters in the spring 
had been in a measure at least removed. But he who had 
been so anxious for united action at Camden, and so con- 
fident there of capturing the whole British army, now 
hesitated and shrank from the risk of an attack wlien it 
promised such great results. 

In defence of Greene's course at this time it was said that 
Lord Rawdon had gained at least a day's march, and, com- 
manding all the means of transportation the country 
afforded, could sweep along with him or destroy all the 
provisions ; and having gained the banks of the Santee, a few 
field-pieces could have stopped the advance of a very 
superior army through the passes of the river swamp 
should Greene have pursued him on the eastern side of the 
Wateree. And what, it was asked, was to be expected 
from the descent on the west side? The route was so 
circuitous that the British army could have thrown itself 
on the American front; nay, reenforcements might have 
advanced from ChaTlestown to Nelson's Ferry in the 
time the American army could have reached the latter 
point. What, then, would have been Greene's situation? 

1 Stedman's American War, vol. II, 300. 
^Annual licyister, 1781, vol. XXIV, 84. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 253 

The reenforcements from Ireland might have arrived 
and joined their forces to Lord Rawdon's, and Greene 
must have risked everything on a battle with a superior 
enemy, etc.^ 

No battle would ever be fought if the attacking party 
should run no risk. But these objections are easily an- 
swered. If Rawdon had started with at least a day's 
march before Greene could move, he had showed no dis- 
position to take advantage of his start and was proceeding 
very leisurely. He began his movement on the night of 
the 9th of May, but did not begin to pass the river until 
the night of the 13th, nor was he safely across until the 
evening of the 14th, when he met Balfour with his alarm- 
ing report of the condition of the country, and learned 
that Fort Motte had fallen, and that Maxwell was besieged 
at Granby. Hoping to relieve Maxwell, he moved a day's 
march up the river, on the 15th, but, learning of the sur- 
render of that officer, he retraced his steps.^ During the 
four days of Rawdon's leisurely retreat from Camden, Sum- 
ter had made his masterly raid through the country down 
to Dorchester, sweeping away horses and everything in the 
way of transportation that could assist the British in their 
retreat. In the meanwhile Greene, who, Lee says, had 
pressed on with much expedition, was on the 15th within a 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 427, 428. It is said that the subject 
was fully discussed by Williams, Lee, and Carrington before the public in 
1792, and that it was fully proved that the movement in the pursuit of Raw- 
don would not only have been visionary and hazardous, but impossible. 
No doubt it was so to Lee's satisfaction, for he claimed the credit of hav- 
ing advised Greene, instead, to move against Ninety Six {Campaigns in the 
Carolinas, 382). But Sumter was by no means convinced, and stoutly 
maintained the soundness of his advice upon the floor of the House of 
Representatives in Congress, when the subject was broached there, upon 
the occasion of relief sought for by General Greene's widow. 

2 Rawdon to Cornwallis, Clinton-Gornwallis Controversy, vol. I, 482, 
483. 



254 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

few miles of Friday's Ferry or Granby. So far, therefore, 
from there being any difficulty in Greene's overtaking 
Lord Rawdon, the two armies were within striking distance 
on that day; Rawdon, believing that Greene had already 
crossed the river and was at Orangeburgh, was not yet dis- 
posed to abandon the line of the Congaree, and could 
easily have been brought to battle had Greene so desired. 
Nor will it do to say that the reenforcements from Ireland, 
that did arrive soon after, might have arrived and joined 
Rawdon ; for while it was true Rawdon was hoping for 
the arrival of some force that might put Charlestown out 
of danger,! and that Greene himself had received informa- 
tion that British reenforcements might be expected in 
Charlestown, it behooved Greene all the more to strike 
before Rawdon received such assistance. The reenforce- 
ments did not, in fact, arrive until the 3d of June, near three 
weeks after, and it was in this time that Sumter urged 
that the battle should be given. But a still more conclusive 
answer to the objections against Sumter's advice on this 
occasion is that four months after, when the British had 
been reenforced by three fresh regiments from Ireland, had 
defeated Greene at Ninety Six and released Cruger, and 
had to some extent at least recovered from the demoraliza- 
tion which Balfour had reported to Rawdon on his arrival 
at Nelson's Ferry, Greene was at last compelled to fight 
the battle which might have been fought with so much 
more chance of victory at this time. Sumter was over- 

1 Lord Rawdon writes to Cornwallis from Monck's Corner on the 24th of 
May : "I am using every effort to augment our cavah-y in hopes that tlie 
arrival of some force which may put Charlestown out of danger will 
speedily enable us to adopt a more active conduct. But the plundering 
parties of the enemy have so stripped the country of horses and there is 
such difliculty in getting swords and other appointments that I get on but 
slowly in this undertaking." — Clinton-Cornwallis Conlroversy, vol. I, 
486. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 255 

ruled. " Greene never ventured on a hazardous game 
when he could play a safe one," says his biographer.^ The 
posts in the interior country, he now thought, presented 
the most desirable object. There appeared to be no doubt 
of their falling, and with them might be acquired supplies, 
provisions, and the country they commanded. This was 
certainly a very different view from that expressed to 
Sumter on his assuming command of the department, 
when Greene wrote to that officer that the salvation of the 
country did not depend upon little strokes — that it was 
not a war of outposts. It would have been well if he had 
now recalled and acted upon the advice he had then given. 
" If we can introduce into the field a greater army than 
the enemy, all their posts will fall themselves; and with- 
out this they will reestablish them though we should take 
them twenty times." A greater army than that of the 
enemy had not been introduced ; but by the repetition of 
little strokes the partisan bands had reduced the enemy to 
inferiority, and the remaining outposts were about to be 
abandoned by him, when to their surprise Greene, instead 
of advancing upon Rawdon, turned aside to besiege Ninety 
Six and Augusta. With the fall of the posts on the Con- 
garee the fall of Ninety Six was assured, for, as Greene 
himself had written to his friend Governor Read, on the 
4th of May, all the fertile parts of the State around Camden, 
Ninety Six, and Augusta had been laid waste in such a 
manner that an army could not subsist in the neighborhood 
of any of these posts. ^ Cut off, therefore, from its supplies 
from Charlestown, Ninety Six must have been evacuated.^ 
And this indeed had been determined upon by Lord Raw- 
don, who considered the risk too great to be hazarded for 
the purpose of protecting the place or even of extricating 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 124. 
^Ibid.,b7. 3/6id, 57. 



256 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the troops; nor would he venture to its relief without 
other means of subsisting his army on the march than the 
gleanings of a wasted and hostile country. Thus circum- 
stanced, Lord Rawdon despatched several messengers by 
different routes, and, to guard as much as possible against 
mischance, applied to Colonel Balfour to send others from 
Charlestown, with instructions to Colonel Cruger, who 
commanded at Ninety Six, to abandon that place and to re- 
move with the garrison as speedily as possible to Augusta.^ 
It was not among the least vexatious freaks of fortune, 
says Johnson, that Greene owed all the mortifications he 
experienced before Ninety Six to the successful activity of 
the Whig militia. Had they been less diligent, he would 
have been saved the necessity of this expedition, and would 
have found himself, without a struggle, in command of the 
whole upper country. Nor is it probable, observes that 
author, that Cruger, after uniting with Browne at Augusta, 
could have made good his retreat to Savannah,'-^ for General 
Pickens, with about four hundred of Anderson's regiment, 
was lying between Augusta and Ninety Six to prevent his 
junction with Browne;^ and Harden, with his party, was in 
the neighborhood. But why put the blame of the failure 
before Ninety Six, and the loss of all that had been gained 
by the partisan bands during the year, upon their excessive 
zeal in the simple performance of their duty, rather than 
upon the true source of Greene's misfortune, his rejection 
of Sumter's advice to advance upon Rawdon, rather than 
turn aside towards Ninety Six ? It is nevertheless a curi- 
ous fact that the evacuation of Ninety Six, and the conse- 
quent abandonment of the whole upper country by the 

1 Annuccl liegister, 1781, vol. XXIV, 87 ; Tarleton's Campaigns, 484; 
Clinton-CornwaUis Controversy, vol. I, 485. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 140. 
^ UcCdiWs Hist.of Ga. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 257 

British, was only prevented by the interception of Raw- 
don's messages on land ; and the surrender of the place was 
only prevented, as we shall see, by the interception of Sir 
Henry Clinton's despatches on the sea. 

There is, however, another view to be taken of Greene's 
conduct in turning back to Ninety Six instead of pressing 
on towards the recovery of Charlestown. He was still 
hankering after the field in Virginia, to which he had 
learned that Cornwallis had gone. He was still asking 
himself : " If the principal officer in the enemy's interest 
is there (i.e. in Virginia), who should be opposed to liim ? 
Surely the commander of the Southern Department ! " ^ 
The fact is that Greene was not contemplating the further 
prosecution of the war in South Carolina. He yearned to 
go to Virginia, where he thought more honor was to be 
won. He was again about to leave the protection of what 
had been regained to the partisan bands which had secured 
it, and with his Continentals to abandon the State. The 
day after he reached Ninety Six he wrote to Lafayette, 
"If we are successful here I shall move nortliivardly imme- 
diately with a part of our force if not all.'''"^ That is, if 
Ninety Six fell, he would leave Sumter, Marion, and Pickens 
to contend with Rawdon. 

We must now turn our attention to another part of the 
field. Major Harden, who, it will be recollected, had 
crossed the country and successfully carried back the war 
into the Low-Country, after the capture of Fort Balfour, 
when last mentioned was endeavoring to form a junction 
with General Pickens. He had not since been idle, and it 
is time now to look after his movements in connection with 
the Georgians who had survived the struggle on the other 
side of the Savannah. After the affair at Beattie's Mill, 

1 Letter to Colonel Lee, Campaigns in the Carolinas, 356. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 141. 

VOL. IV. — 3 



258 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

upon the return of Pickens, Clarke, and McCall from 
North Carolina, Clarke proceeded into Georgia with his 
troops, accompanied by McCall with a part of his regi- 
ment from South Carolina. About the 12th of April 
both these officers were seized with the small-pox. Clarke 
took a retired situation with a suitable guard until he 
recovered, during which time the command of the troops 
in Georgia was confided to Lieutenant-Colonel Micajah 
Williamson. McCall returned to Carolina, and unfor- 
tunately for his people and their cause, died from the 
disease. 

When the Georgians returned to their country, they 
dispersed into parties of ten or twelve men each, so as to 
spread themselves over the settlements, appointing a place 
of rendezvous. When these small parties entered the 
settlements where they had formerly resided, says the 
historian of Georgia, general devastation was presented to 
their view ; their aged fathers and youthful brothers had 
been hanged and murdered, their decrepit grandfathers 
were incarcerated in prisons, where most of them had been 
suffered to perish in filth, famine, or disease ; and their 
mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, and young children had 
been robbed, insulted, and abused, and were found by them 
in temporary huts more resembling a savage camp than a 
civilized habitation. There is damning proof of the truth 
of this unvarnished tale, says this author, and the reader 
may imagine the feelings of the Georgian of that day and 
the measure of his resentment. Mercy to a Loyalist who 
had been active in outrage became inadmissible, and retalia- 
tion and carnage ensued.^ The Whig captains, Johnson 
and McKoy, with a few active followers, had taken a 
position in the swamps of the Savannah River, and were 
employed in watching the communications between Augusta 
1 McCall's Hist. ofGa., vol. II, 362. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 259 

and Savannah. They had frequently intercepted boats 
laden with provisions and other stores, which they secured 
or destroyed. To put a stop to this, Colonel Browne, wlio 
commanded the British garrison at Augusta, detached 
Lieutenant Kemp of the King's Rangers with ten soldiers 
and twenty militia to dislodge them. McKoy, hearing of 
the advance of the party, took an advantageous position 
near Mathews's Bluff and attacked them, though much 
superior in number to his own, killed the officer in com- 
mand and fifteen of his men, and compelled the remainder 
to retreat precipitately to Augusta. 

Hearing of Colonel Harden's party in the neighborhood 
of Coosawhatchie, Colonel Browne ordered his royal militia 
to repair to Augusta to defend it ; but they, covered with 
crimes, had no inclination to be cooped up in a garrison, 
lest they might be taken and receive the punishment due 
to them for their criminal offences. Many of them fled to 
the Indians and joined them in warfare against the frontier 
settlements. 

Having called his troops, Browne determined to strike at 
Harden. He marched with the greater part of his own 
force and a number of Indians to drive him from the 
neighborhood.^ Guided by one Wylley, he encamped in 
a field at Wiggins's Hill for the night.^ Harden, joined 
by Johnston and McKoy, had advanced within a mile of 
the place where Browne was encamped, unaware of his 
approach. The two parties were then in striking distance, 
each ignorant of the other's position. Harden, first learning 

1 Colonel Browne states his force to have been one hundred soldiers 
and seventy Indians, and that he was joined by four hundred loyal militia 
(Curwin's Journal, 65o). 

2 McCall, the historian of Georgia, represents "Wylley as a captain in 
the British service, but Browne states that he was one of those who had 
taken the oaths and obtained protection, and on this occasion acted aa 
guide and betrayed them (Curwin's Journal., supra). 



2G0 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of Browne's position, decided to attack at once, hoping to 
cany Browne's encampment by surprise. Browne, it is 
said by McCall, had been warned by Wylley of the dan- 
gerous position he had taken, and the necessity to be on 
the alert when opposing an officer of Harden's enterprise, 
but, imprudent, and possessing no quality of an officer 
but courage, he had retired to a house some little dis- 
tance from the camp and had gone to sleep. By some 
intelligence Browne's officers were apprised of Harden's 
approach, and were forming their ranks when Harden's 
troops commenced the attack. The contest lasted half 
an hour, when, overpowered by superior numbers and 
discipline. Harden was compelled to retreat, which he 
effected in good order and carried off his wounded. The 
American loss was seven killed and eleven wounded. 
The loss of the enemy was about the same.^ Colonel 
Harden returned to an island in Coosawhatchie swamp, 
upon which, like Marion at Snow Island in the Pee Dee, he 
had established his headquarters. There his wounded were 
left until recovered. These wounded were for some time 
sheltered and furnished with food and other necessaries by 
three Whigs, William Rawls, Colton Rawls, and Leonard 
Tanner. Unfortunately Tanner was taken prisoner by 
some neighboring Loyalists while he was engaged in this 
service, and murdered because he would not discover the 
place where the wounded were concealed. Still greater 
atrocities followed. Among the prisoners taken at Wig- 
gins's Hill was Wylley, who had piloted Browne's detach- 
ment to Mathews's Bluff, and who they alleged had treach- 
erously led the detachment into that difficulty. He was 

1 Colonel Browne states that the militia under his command during the 
action deserted to a man and joined Harden, who, thus reenforced, the 
next morning renewed the attack, but was again repulsed (Curwin's 
Journal, G54). 



IN THE REVOLUTION 261 

turned over, it was said, by Browne to the Indians, who 
ripped him open with their knives in Browne's presence 
and tortured him to death. They stripped the inhabitants, 
both men and women, of their clothes, and then set fire to 
their houses.^ But the most tragic story of the time is that 
of Mrs. McKoy. This hxdy, a widow, whether a relative 
of Captain McKoy, who took so active a part here at the 
time, does not appear, had fled from her residence at 
Darien in Georgia into South Carolina for refuge. Her 
elder son, Rannal McKoy, a youth of seventeen years of 
age, was with Harden at Wiggins's Hill and was taken 
prisoner. His mother, hearing of his captivity, repaired at 
once to Browne's camp, having furnished herself with some 
refreshments which she presented to Browne as a means of 
obtaining more ready access. Browne accepted the refresh- 
ments, but turned a deaf ear to her entreaties, and would 
not permit her to have an interview with her son, whose 
fate she already foresaw. She was forced out of the camp. 
Captain McKinnon, a Scotch officer, a soldier of honor, 
unused to such murderous warfare, is said to have remon- 
strated with Browne against hanging the youth, and to 
have given Mrs. McKoy some assurance that her son would 
be safe. Browne that night caused a pen to be made of 
fence rails about three feet high, in which he placed his 
prisoners and covered it over with the same materials. 
Mrs. McKoy, following her son, had come again to the camp, 
but was not permitted to enter it. Captain McKinnon, 
the advocate of humanity, was ordered out of the way. 
The next morning the prisoners, Rannal McKoy, Britton 
Williams, George Smith, George Reed, and a Frenchman 

1 This is the story as told by McCall ; but it is due to justice to say 
that Colonel Browne denies it, and states that Wylley (or Willie as he 
spells the name) was killed instantly by an Indian chief with a tomahawk, 
because of their betrayal by him. 



262 HISTOBY OP SOUTH CAKOLINA 

whose name is not known, were ordered forth to the gal- 
lows ; and, after hanging until they were nearly dead, 
they were cut down and delivered to the Indians, who 
scalped them and otherwise abused their bodies in their 
accustomed savage manner.^ But notwithstanding these 
cruelties the people were not subdued. Captain McKoy 
soon returned to his station on the banks of the Savannah, 
and had the address to keep together a party sufficient to 
intercept supplies going up the river to the British garri- 
son at Augusta.2 

In the meanwhile General Pickens, since his return from 
North Carolina, had been engaged in rousing the people in 
Ninety Six District, in which he was most zealously and ably 
seconded by the two Hammonds, Colonel Samuel Hammond 
and Colonel Le Roy Hammond. Colonel Samuel Hammond, 
joined by Major James Jackson of Georgia, was charged to 
pass into Georgia for similar purposes. Passing through 
Ninety Six District, they arrived on the Savannah River 
near Pace's Ferry, in what is now Edgefield County, about 
twenty-four miles above Augusta ; there they were joined 
by Captain Thomas Kee of Colonel Le Roy Hammond's regi- 
ment, with a number of men. The next day Captain Kee 
was detached to attack a party of Tories assembled under 
a Captain Clarke at his residence on Horner's Creek, a 
branch of Stevens's Creek, in what is now Edgefield County. 
Clarke was killed and the company all made prisoners. The 
party then marched to Colonel Le Roy Hammond's mill on 
the Savannah, attacked the British post there, broke up the 
mill, and took all the provisions belonging to the enemy. 

1 Colonel Browne admits the execution on the gallows of McKoy and 
eleven others, but alleges that they were executed because of the murder 
of Kemp and his party. He also aduiits that he ordered the horses of the 
plunderers of the king's stores to be burnt (Curwin's Journal, 054). 

2 Ramsay's Hevolution, vol. II, 236-238 ; McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 
362, 306. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 263 

Joined by two or three hundred men from Colonel LeRoy 
Hammond's regiment in a few days, Colonel Samuel Ham- 
mond's force was now so increased as to justify the detach- 
ment of Major Jackson to cross into Georgia and to join 
the troops collecting on that side of the river. ^ 

On the 16th of April, that is three days after Harden had 
captured Fort Balfour, and the day after Marion and Lee 
had laid siege to Fort Watson, Lieutenant-Colonel William- 
son of Georgia, in the absence of Colonel Clarke, who was ill 
with the small-pox, having reassembled their men at tlie ap- 
pointed rendezvous on Little River, marched to Augusta, 
where he was joined by some militia from the southern 
part of that State with a few men from Burke County. 
Williamson took position at twelve hundred yards dis- 
tance from the British lines, and fortified his camp. If 
Browne had moved out at once and attacked him, the issue 
would probably have been favorable to the British, as they 
had the advantage of the artillery. But Browne was de- 
terred by the exaggerated reports of Williamson's strength. 
General Pickens at this time, as before mentioned, with 
about four hundred men of Anderson's regiment, was 
manoeuvring between Augusta and Ninety Six, to pre- 
vent the garrison of that place, under Lieutenant-Colonel 
Cruger, from reenforcing Browne, having Colonels Bran- 
don and PLayes hovering on the eastward of Ninety Six 
to recruit their forces and intercept supplies from that 
quarter.'^ 

About the 15th of May Colonel Clarke, having so far re- 
covered from the small-pox as to resume his command, came 
into camp, bringing with him a reenforcement of one hun- 
dred men. About this time a Major Dill collected a party 
of Loyalists, with the intention of joining Browne and 

1 Memoirs of Colonel Samuel Hammond, Johnson's Traditions, 607. 
» McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 367. 



264 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

forcing the Americans to raise the siege, but Clarke de- 
spatched Captains Shelby and Carr with a party of moun- 
taineers and Georgians, who surprised them on Walker's 
bridge on Brier Creek, killed and wounded a number, and 
dispersed the rest without sustaining any loss.^ Believing 
himself now secure against the necessity of a retreat, Clarke 
sent the horses of his troops with a guard of six men to 
Beech Island, below Augusta, on the Carolina side. Browne, 
learning of this, despatched a party of regular troops, militia, 
and Indians down on the river bank and in canoes to cut 
off the guard and bring off the horses. Clarke ordered 
Shelby and Carr at once in pursuit, but too late ; Browne's 
detachment succeeded in the enterprise, killed the guard, 
and were returning with the booty when Shelby and Carr, 
lying in wait in a thicket, attacked them, and following 
their example, spared the life of none that fell into their 
hands. Nearly half of the detachment of the enemy were 
killed and the rest ran away. The horses were recovered 
without loss.2 Thus had Pickens been gathering his forces 
around Augusta, which was practically in a state of siege 
from the 15th of May. 

General Greene having determined upon the investment 
of Ninety Six, his first object was to prevent the garrison's 
escape into Georgia, and for this purpose ordered Colonel 
Lee thither with all despatch ; and thus it was that, while 
Lord Rawdon was sending message after message to Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Cruger to abandon the post, Pickens on 
the one side and Greene upon the other, independently of 

1 Captain Moses Shelby was a brother of Colonel Isaac Shelby ; he had 
served at the siege of Savannah and at Cowpens {King's Mountain and its 
Heroes, 171, 417). Captain Patrick, or Paddy, Carr had been an Indian 
trader, a reckless and brutal man, who had served at King's Mountain 
{Ihid., 124, 125, 340, 341). 

2 McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 368. 



IN THE BEVOLUTION 265 

each other and with different motives, were alike manceu- 
vring to prevent his doing so. Lee, with his usual prompt- 
ness and vigor, began his march in tlie course of a few 
hours after the surrender of Maxwell, proceeding thirteen 
miles that evening. Resuming his march at a very early 
hour next morning, he pressed forward with the utmost 
expedition, relieving his fatigued troops by occasionally 
dismounting his dragoons and mounting his infantry. 
Approaching Ninety Six in the course of his march, he de- 
tached a squadron of horse under Major Rudulph towards 
the post with the hope by his sudden dash of seizing pris- 
oners, from whom information could be obtained of the 
state of the garrison. Rudulph, concealing his approach, 
appeared suddenly near the town, but was not so fortunate 
as to find a single individual of the garrison without the 
lines. From two countrymen whom he seized he learned 
that Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger, hearing of Greene's ad- 
vance upon Camden, had been industriously engaged in 
strengthening his fortifications and was determined not to 
abandon his post. This information Lee at once forwarded 
to Greene, thus removing any apprehension on his part 
that Cruger would attempt to reenforce Browne. Lee 
reached the vicinity of Augusta on the third day of his 
march, having covered seventy-five miles from Fort 
Granby in that time. And now again Lee met with his 
usual fortune of reaping where others had sown. 

The British continued, during the war, the customary 
sending of annual presents to the Indians, and thus secur- 
ing to the Royal government their allegiance and assist- 
ance. It happened that this was just about the time for 
the presents to be sent, and Clarke, on the lookout for their 
coming, had ordered some of his men down the river to 
intercept them. The boats containing the goods appeared 
as expected, and were at once attacked by the party Clarke 



266 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

had sent who drove their guard into Fort Galphin, or Fort 
Dreadnought, as it was sometimes called, the boats lying 
under cover of its guns. This fort, as it was called, was, 
like Fort Motte, a small stockade around the farmhouse of 
George Galphin, who had been a deputy superintendent of 
Indian affairs. It was situated on the north, or South Caro- 
lina, side of the Savannah River, twelve miles below Augusta, 
and was garrisoned by two companies of Colonel Browne's 
infantry. The stream, though narrow here, is deep, and 
riflemen among the trees which covered its bank swept the 
decks of the boats not provided against such an attack. 
Here Clarke was carefully guarding this invaluable prize 
when joined by Pickens and now some days after by Lee.^ 
This latter officer had been preceded by one of his officers, 
Captain O'Neall, with a light party of horse charged with 
the collection of provisions and information, and from this 
officer he learned the pleasing intelligence when at some 
distance. Upon reaching the neighborhood, Colonel Lee 
was complimented with the request to undertake the re- 
duction of the post, and he detached Major Rudulph of the 
Legion upon the enterprise. A strong detachment of 
Georgia and South Carolina troops, the latter consisting 
of Colonel Hammond's regiment except one company and 
what of Colonel Harden's regiment was with him, marched 
to cover and cooperate with Major Rudulph ; but the fort 
capitulated on the 21st of May after little resistance and 
slisrht loss to the Americans ; one man died of heat and 
fatigue, and 8 or 10 were wounded. The British lost 3 
or 4 killed and 126 prisoners, including 70 commissioned 
officers and privates in the regular service. But the most 
valuable acquisition was a quantity of clothing, blankets, 
small arms, rum, salt, and other articles which were much 

1 McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 370 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 
131. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 267 

needed, and some ammunition and articles of military 
equipment.^ 

Colonel Lee, whose ambition and selfishness in the in- 
terests of his own command had embroiled himself and 
the Commander-in-chief with two of the three South Caro- 
lina generals, had now entered upon a service which 
brought him into contact, without bringing him under the 
command, of the third. Fortunately for the service, 
General Pickens possessed both a modesty and a tact which 
were at once illustrated upon his again coming to act 
with the Continental troops after serving with them in 
North Carolina. He appealed at once to Greene, represent- 
ing the destitute condition of the men under his command, 
and begged that they might be permitted to share in some 
part of the goods taken at Fort Galphin. He had been a 
favorite of Greene's in the North Carolina campaign, and 
Greene at once responded to his appeal, and authorized 
him to divide the whole according to his sense of justice 
and the good of the service. Pickens set aside the mili- 
tary stores for the public service, sent thirteen wagons 
with rum, salt, sugar, medicines, etc., for the main army, 
and divided the clothing into three equal parts, one of 
which he assigned to Georgia, another to South Carolina, 
and the third to the Continental troops. At Greene's sug- 
gestion the fowling-pieces, of which the number was con- 
siderable, were divided among the militia, only making 
the distribution the means of retaining them for a specified 
time in service.^ It having been arranged between Gen- 



1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 131 ; McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 
371. Colonel Lee's account of this affair has not been followed, because 
Judge Johnson shoves that he was not present ; and this is admitted by 
Mr. Lee in his reply to Judge Johnson (see Campaigns in the Caro- 
Jma«, 390). 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 132. 



268 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

eral Pickens and Colonel Lee that the latter should con- 
duct the operations against the post at Galphin's plantation 
while the former made the necessary arrangements and 
preparations for the complete investure of Augusta, upon 
the return of Rudulph from Fort Galphin General Pickens 
prepared for the purpose. 

The post at Augusta was defended by two works, called 
Fort Cornwallis and Fort Grierson, constructed near the 
river bank, about half a mile distant from each other. Fort 
Grierson was erected near a ravine that falls into the 
Savannah about half a mile above the town, and Fort 
Cornwallis lower down the river. The forts were supplied 
with water from the river, but, situated on a plain not 
much elevated above the river bed, water could be obtained 
only by digging. Colonel Browne, commanding the 
British forces in upper Georgia, had his headquarters in 
Fort Cornwallis, which was garrisoned by about 320 pro- 
vincials, with 200 negroes, who, if not armed, relieved the 
regular troops of fatigue duties and work upon the fortifi- 
cations. Fort Grierson was defended by about 80 militia 
and two pieces of artillery. At a point equally calcu- 
lated to act upon either fort, Pickens constructed a small 
work for the purpose of using his artillery with security 
and effect. On the 23d of May a junction was formed 
by Pickens, Lee, and Clarke; and after reconnoitring 
the ground and the British works, it was determined to 
dislodge Colonel Grierson and to destroy or intercept 
him in his retreat to Fort Cornwallis. General Pickens 
and Colonel Clarke were to attack the fort on the north- 
west, while the militia and Major Eaton's North Carolina 
battalion,! and some Georgia militia under Major Jackson, 

1 Major Pinketham Eaton began his military career as a captain in the 
Third North Carolina Continental Regiment. His commission as captain 
was dated IGth of April, 1770, and on the 22d of November, 1777, he was 



IN THE REVOLUTION 269 

were to pass down the river and attack the work upon the 
northeast, while Lee, with his infantry and artillery, took 
a position south of the fort, so as to support Eaton or 
keep Browne in check if he should come out to attempt to 
save Grierson's command in case he should evacuate his 
works and retreat to Fort Cornwallis. The cavalry, un- 
der Eggleston, were posted on the skirt of the woods to 
the south of Lee, ready to fall upon Browne's rear if he 
attempted to sally out. Discovering that Grierson was in 
a critical situation, Browne drew out a part of the com- 
mand and advanced with two field-pieces with the appear- 
ance of giving battle to save Grierson, who was warmly 
assailed by Pickens and Eaton. Lee opposed Browne, 
who, not deeming it prudent under existing circumstances 
to persevere in the attempt, confined his interposition to a 
cannonade, which was returned by Lee, with very little 
effect on either side. Grierson, finding that resistance 
would be vain, determined to abandon the position and 
throw his command into Fort Cornwallis. He attempted 
to retreat under cover of the river bank, but Colonel 
Clarke intercepted him, and his whole party were killed, 
wounded, or taken. The opportunity of revenge upon 
any of Browne's men was not avoided ; and, indeed, it is 
said that Grierson had likewise rendered himself pecul- 
iarly odious to the Georgians by his cruel practices.^ In 
Georgia the war between Whig and Tory was now waged 
without quarter, and in this affair the Georgians bore the 

promoted to be major. He had been General Jethro Sumner's most active 
assistant in raising the new levies, and was the first officer assigned to 
active service in the campaign of 1781. His early promotion, and the 
admiration which General Sumner had for him, is sufficient evidence of 
his skill and courage as a soldier ; and Lee testifies to his great amiability 
of temper, which had endeared him to his comrades. — No. Ca. iri 1780- 
81 (Schenck), 418. 

1 McCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 274. 



270 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

principal part. The killed were far beyond the usual pro- 
portion to wounded and prisoners — thirty were killed 
and only forty odd made prisoners. A few only of the 
Americans were wounded, and fewer still killed ; but, un- 
fortunately, among the latter was Major Eaton of North 
Carolina, who some accounts represent as falling gallantly 
at the head of his battalion, while others intimate that he 
was made a prisoner and put to death in cold blood.^ He 
had been but a short time in this service, but long enough, 
it appears, to have endeared himself to his comrades. 

Pickens and Lee now pressed forward their measures 
against Fort Cornwallis, into which Browne had retired 
without rendering any assistance to Grierson. On his 
return to the fort, finding that he would be closely invested, 
he applied himself to strengthen his position in every 
part. It is said that he placed a prisoner, an aged citizen 
named Alexander, and others whom he had long in cap- 
tivity, in one of the bastions most exposed to the fire of the 
American batteries, one of which was manned by Captain 
Samuel Alexander's rifle company, thus exposing the father 
to be killed by the hand of his son, but which fate fortu- 
nately the father escaped. The Americans had but one 
field-piece, a six-pounder ; and they found great difficulty 
in the use of this, as the surrounding ground presented no 
swell or hill which would enable them to bring it to bear 
upon the enemy. At Lee's suggestion resort was had to the 
Maham tower which had been used so successfully at the 
reduction of Fort Watson. This tower, consisting of a pen 
of logs raised about thirty feet high, was thrown up under 
cover of an old frame house which Browne had allowed 
to remain near the fort. Browne made two sorties, one on 
the night of the 28th and one on that of the 29th ; but both of 
these were successfully met by the infantry of Lee's Legion. 
1 Johnston's Life of Greene, vol. II, 134. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 271 

On the 1st of June the tower was raised as high as the 
enemy's works, seeing which and recognizing its fatal con- 
sequence, Browne attempted its destruction, but found 
the besiegers alive to its defence, and ready with their 
whole force to receive him. Pickens took command of one 
division of the militia in person, supported by Captain 
Handy's infantry company of Lee's Legion, while Clarke 
took command of the other, supported by Rudulph's. About 
ten o'clock at night Clarke's division were charged upon by 
about one-third of the British troops, and for some time 
the conflict was furious, but Rudulph's bayonets forced the 
enemy to retire. While the detachment was engaged 
against Clarke and Rudulph, Browne sallied out with his 
remaining force against Pickens, where the contest was 
equally severe until Handy pressed the bayonet, which 
forced Browne to retreat. Upon this occasion the loss on 
both sides exceeded all which had occurred during the 
siege except in the evacuation of Fort Grierson. 

Failing in this attempt, Browne now resorted to a strat- 
agem which very nearly proved successful. He sent out 
a sergeant — a Scotchman — under the cloak of desertion, 
with instructions to find an opportunity of setting fire to 
and burning the tower. Lee received the pretended de- 
serter and was for a time completely deceived by him. 
To such an extent had the adventurer succeeded that Lee 
had actually arranged for the deserter's station on the 
tower, with a view to his directing Captain Finley's gun 
upon Browne's magazine, when his suspicions became in 
some way aroused, and he countermanded the order and put 
him under charge of the guard. Another threatened disas- 
ter to the Americans was but just avoided. Between Lee's 
quarters and the fort there stood four or five deserted 
houses, some of them near enough to the fort to be used 
with effect by riflemen from their upper stories. It had 



272 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

been the intention of Pickens and Lee to use these houses 
to aid in covering the attack when the enemy should be 
assaulted. Early on this night all but two of the houses 
were burned by Browne. The besiegers were at a loss to 
conjecture why the two houses were spared, especially 
that nearest the fort ; but the general impression was that 
they had been purposely spared with some view of advan- 
taofe. The fire from the tower had now dismounted the 
enemy's guns from the platform and raked the whole 
interior of the fo»t, and it was determined to prepare for 
the assault at the hour of nine on the 4th of June. In the 
course of the night of the 3d a party of the best marks- 
men were selected from Pickens's troops and sent to the 
house spared by Browne and nearest to the fort. The 
officer commanding the detachment was ordered to arrange 
his men in the upper story for the purpose of ascertaining 
the number which could with ease use their rifles out of 
the windows or any other convenient apertures, then to 
withdraw and report to Pickens. It was intended before 
daylight to have directed the return of the officer to the 
house with such riflemen as he should have reported to be 
sufficient. All other preparations had been made for the 
assault, when about three o'clock in the morning of the 4th 
of June a violent explosion occurred, and the house which 
was to have been occupied by Pickens's riflemen was blown 
to atoms. Browne had pushed a sap to the house, which 
he correctly presumed would be occupied by the besiegers 
when ready to strike their last blow ; and hearing the 
noise made by the party the evening before in arranging 
for their stations, assumed that the a]')proaching morning 
was fixed for the general assault. Then accidentally the 
building was prematurely blown up, and the party destined 
for it escaped. 

On the 31st Colonel Browne had been summoned to 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 273 

surrender, but had replied that it was his duty and inclina- 
tion to defend the post to the last extremity. On the 
morning of the 3d the summons was repeated, but again 
refused in similar terms. The hour of nine o'clock of the 4th 
now approached and the columns for assault were in array, 
waiting the signal to advance. But Pickens and Lee, to 
spare further bloodshed, offered still another opportunity to 
the besieged to avoid unnecessary sacrifice. They wrote, 
proposing to Browne that the prisoners in his possession 
should be sent out of the fort, and that they might be con- 
sidered his or theirs as the siege might eventuate. This 
was declined. But the storming of the fort was still 
deferred, probably because, as the 4th of June was the 
king's birthday, it was supposed that as a point of honor 
Browne, as a king's officer, would be less inclined to sur- 
render on that day than on any other. And so it proved 
to be. For on the morning of the 5th Browne himself 
opened negotiations which resulted in the surrender of the 
fort. The fort and garrison were surrendered to Captain 
Michael Rudulph,^ who was appointed to take possession, 
and the British troops marched out and laid down their 
arms. The British loss during the siege was 52 killed, 
and 334, including the wounded, were made prisoners of 
war. The American loss was 16 killed and 35 wounded, 
7 mortally. 

Measures were immediately taken for the protection of 
Colonel Browne, who, from his notorious character and the 
barbarities committed by him, it was assumed would be in 
danger, surrounded as he now was by men who had been 
so long the victims of his atrocities. He was placed, for 
safety, under a strong guard of Continental troops com- 
manded by Captain Armstrong. The precaution was nec- 
essary, for young McKoy, the brother of the one who was 
1 A brother of Major John Rudulph. 



274 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

but a few days before so cruelly executed by Browne, was 
present, seeking an opportunity of putting him to death ; 
and doubtless there were others equally bent upon the 
same purpose. The American officers, unfortunately, had 
not been so careful in regard to Colonel Grierson, probably 
because they were not aware that he, too, was scarcely less 
odious to the Georgians than Browne himself. He was 
killed the afternoon of the day after the surrender of Fort 
Cornwallis. General Pickens, on the 7th of June, thus 
reports the affair to General Greene: — 

" A very disagreeable and melancholy affair which happened yes- 
terday in the afternoon occasions my writing to you at this time. I 
had ridden down to Browne's fort where I had been but a few min- 
utes when information was brought to me that a man had ridden up 
to the door of a room here, where Colonel Grierson was confined and 
without dismounting shot him so that he expired soon after, and in- 
stantly made off ; and though he was instantly pursued by some men 
on horseback he effected his escape. Major Williams, who was in the 
same room, immediately ran into a cellar among other prisoners ; but 
standing in view was soon after shot at and wounded in the shoulder. 
I have given orders for burying Colonel Grierson this afternoon with 
military honors, but as Colonel Browne was also insulted yesterday, 
though the man was for some time confined for it, and the people are 
so much exasperated against some individuals I have found it neces- 
sary to give orders to cross the river with the prisoners iinder the 
care of Colonel Hammond's Regiment, and Captain Smith's detach- 
ment of North Carolinans and march them to Ninety-Six or till I 
meet your order respecting them, being fully persuaded that were they 
marched for Savannah they would be beset on the road, but think 
they may go to Charlestown by way of Ninety-Six if you should so 
order." ^ 

This cotemporaneous report explains a matter about 
which Stedman, the British historian, becomes very indig- 
nant, namely, the bravado, as they allege, of marching the 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 91 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, 
vol. II, 136. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 275 

British prisoners taken at Augusta by way of Ninety Six, 
and passing them in full view of the garrison there be- 
sieged by Greene's army. This, Stedman says, was done 
with all the parade of martial music and preceded by a 
British standard reversed.^ Colonel Lee states that the 
exhibition before Ninety Six was owing to the mistake of 
the officer in taking the nearest road to the town, and that 
he reprimanded him for exposing the corps, in charge of the 
prisoners, to the guns of the garrison.^ How it came to 
Lee to do so is somewhat curious, as from General Pickens's 
letter it appears that the guard was under the command of 
Colonel Hammond, sent by General Pickens to report to 
General Greene. But however that may be, it is clear from 
General Pickens's report at the time that, as a matter of 
fact, the prisoners were sent by the way of Ninety Six from 
motives of humanity, and not with a view of intimidating 
the British garrison there. It does not, however, appear 
what cause of indignation would justly have been given, 
had that been the view with which the prisoners were de- 
spatched by way of that post. 

Strange to say, while the rest of the prisoners were for 
their greater security sent by the way of Ninety Six, Colo- 
nel Browne himself was safely guarded on the road to Sa- 
vannah, though, says Ramsay, he had lately hanged thirteen 
American prisoners and delivered to the Indians some of 
the citizens of the country, who suffered from their hands 
all the tortures which savage barbarity had contrived to 
add poignancy to the pains of death. And this, though on 
his way he had to pass by the inhabitants whose houses he 
had lately burned, and whose relations he had recently 
hanged. The only adventure recorded was that at Silver 
Bluff. Mrs. McKoy, having obtained leave of the officer 

1 Stedmaii's Am. War, vol. II, 309. 

» Meynoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 371. 



276 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

in command of his guard to speak to Browne, addressed 
him in words to the following effect: — 

" Colonel Browne, in the late day of your prosperity I 
visited your camp and on my knees supplicated for the life 
of my son. But you were deaf to my entreaties. You 
hanged him, though a beardless youth, before my face. 
These eyes have seen him scalped by the savages under 
your immediate command, and for no better reason than 
that his name was McKoy. As you are now a prisoner to 
the leader of my country, for the present I lay aside all 
thought of revenge ; but when you resume your sword I 
will go five hundred miles to demand satisfaction at the 
point of it for the murder of my son." ^ But, though 
Browne was exchangfed soon after and was agrain in the field 
in Georgia,^ he survived the war, and when peace was re- 
stored retired first to Florida and thence to the Bahamas.^ 

This unfortunate affair, of the murder of Grierson and 
the attack upon Williams, says Johnson, was the subject 
of the most sensible regret of all the American officers. A 
similar outrage had but a short time before been com- 
mitted upon the person of Colonel Dunlap, and although 
Pickens made every effort to discover the murderer, he 
had failed of success. A large reward was offered by proc- 
lamation for the discovery of the murderer of Grierson, 
but principle in some, and fear and fellow-feeling in others, 
effectually precluded information. It has since appeared, 
says the author, that the attack originated in individual 
revenge, from the sons of some of the old men confined in 
Fort Cornwallis. Their children had now had access to 

1 Ramsay's Itevohition, vol. II, 240. It is quite safe to say that this 
speech of Mrs. McKoy has been doctored, — to use an expressive if not an 
elegant jDhrase, — and prepared after the event. 

2 McCall's Hist. ofGa., vol. II, 406. 
8 Am. Loyalists (Sabine), 180. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 277 

them, and received from the palsied lips of their parents 
such tales of insult and oppression as instigated men other- 
wise correct and respected to the commission of these dis- 
graceful acts. Human passions are ever carrying on the 
work of deception, and the violation of the sanctity of age 
or female delicacy will, in precedence to all others, be 
deemed justifiable causes for the more bloody revenge. 
Perhaps the suspicion at that time entertained with regard 
to the fate of Major Eaton may not have been without its 
influence in suppressing information. Indignation and 
thirst for revenge because of a recent excursion of a party 
of Cuningham's, in which, as General Greene expresses 
himself, "savage cruelty never equalled the conduct of 
this party," was, it is said, at that time in full operation on 
the feelings of the Whigs. Many an eye was streaming 
for the murders that had been committed b}^ that party. ^ 
It is curious that, in commenting upon the murder of Grier- 
son, no comment is made by the author upon the recent 
monstrous conduct of Browne in turning over the captives 
to the knives of the Indians, if indeed he had really done so. 
Upon the capitulation on the 5th Colonel Lee immedi- 
ately moved forward with the valuable accession of artillery 
to aid in the reduction of Ninety Six. General Pickens 
remained at Augusta until transportation for the stores 
taken there and at Fort Galphin could be provided, which 
being accomplished in a few days, he also marched to join 
General Greene. 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 136. We do not, however, know 
to what this allusion refers. 



CHAPTER XII 

1781 

General Greene, having determined to proceed against 
Ninety Six and Augusta, from his camp at Ancrum's pkxn- 
tation, on the east side of Friday's Ferry, on the 17th of 
May, tlie day upon which he returned to Sumter the com- 
mission he had resigned, issued to him the following 
instructions : — 

" You will continue your command at this place and encourage the 
militia in all parts of the State in the best manner you can for cooper- 
ating with the American army. You will carefully watch the motions 
of the enemy below this place & advise me of all their movements 
& should they come out in force towards Ninety-Six you will take 
such route as to effect a junction with us at that place. 

" You will have the fortifications at this place levelled & those of 
Motte's and Orangeburgh, if not already compleated, and also those 
of Camden. 

" We shall leave part of our spare stores at this place, should the ' 
enemy make any movements this way or towards Ninety-Six, you will 
give the officer having them in charge orders to move up to Wyns- , 
borough & as much higher up into the country as you may think 
necessary. 

" Such of the negroes as were taken at this garrison (as are not 
claimed by good Whiggs & their property proved) belonging to the; 
Tories or disaffected, you will apply to the fulfilling your contracts 
with the ten-months troops; such parts of the arms and stores, as thei 
commissary general of Military stores & the Quarter Master General 
■hall deliver over to you you will apply as justice and the good of the 
•ervice shall require. 

" But above all things pay particular attention to the arranging th« 
militia as the safety of the country in a great measure depends thereon. 

278 



IN THE REVOLUTION 279 

" You will direct General Marion to take such a position & employ 
Him in such a manner as may most effectually annoy the enemy & at 
ne same time cooperate with us should occasion require it." ^ 

Having thus left Sumter in the entire charge of the opera- 
tions in the lower country, and to guard him against Lord 
Rawdon, General Greene only continuing his camp at 
Friday's Ferry (or Fort Granby) long enough to give time 
for Lieutenant-Colonel Carrington, his quartermaster, to 
procure means of transportation, took up the direct road 
for Ninety Six, which he reached on the 22d. 

Ninety Six, it will be remembered, was the scene of the 
first bloodshed of the Revolution in South Carolina, that of 
the siege of the 19th to the 21st of November, 1775,^ — a 
struggle between the Whigs and the Loyalists of the State, 
which had resulted in a treaty between the parties, scarcely 
made before broken. Since that time it had been the strong- 
hold of Royalists, and the point from which the beautiful 
and rich country around had been desolated. It had been 
originally a post against the Lidians, and had been sur- 
rounded with a stockade as a defence against their incur- 
sions. The stockade was still remaining; and upon the fall 
of Charlestown it had been immediately garrisoned by the 
British. Its situation rendered it of great importance to 
them, as it maintained the communication with the Indians ; 
indeed, it had derived its name from the circumstance that 
it was ninety-six miles distant from the principal town of 
the Cherokee Indians, called Keowee. It was, too, the most 
advanced post occupied by the enemy, and supported Cam- 
den and Augusta. As such, as we have seen, it had been 
an object of great solicitude by Sumter, Clarke, and McCall, 
and afterwards by Morgan under Greene. 

Upon th« fall of Charlestowu the post had been com- 

1 Sumter MSS. 

2 History of So. Ca. in the Eevolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 89-92. 



280 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

manded for some time by Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour, upon 
whose removal to the command of the town he had been 
succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Harris Cruger. 
This officer was a native of New York, a son-in-law of 
General Oliver De Lancey, and commandant of one of the 
three battalions known as De Lancey's corps or brigade.^ 
His garrison of 550 men was composed entirely of Ameri- 
cans. His own battalion, raised in New York, numbered 
about 150, and the second battalion. New Jersey volun- 
teers, 200. These Northern Tories were regulars and were 
as good troops as any in the British service. To these 
were added about 200 South Carolina loyal militia.^ 
Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger was totally ignorant of the 
situation of the army under Lord Rawdon ; nor had he any 
information of the action of Hobkirk's Hill and the evacu- 
ation of Camden but from an American officer who hap- 
pened to be taken prisoner. But he was aware of the 
growing disaffection of the people of Ninety Six and of a 
great change in the condition of affairs, even in that hith- 
erto most loyal region. The absence of all communica- 
tions with the rest of the province could not but warn 
him of danger. Fortunately for the king's cause. Colonel 
Cruger was equal to the exigencies of the occasion ; and, 
unable to obtain information or supplies, he set about at 
once to put his post in the best possible state of defence. 
As soon as the post had come into the possession of the 
British, the year before, works had been added to the 
stockade, under Lieutenant Haldane of the engineers, an 
aide-de-camp to Lord Cornwallis. The principal of these, 
which from its form was called a star, was on the right or 
southeast of the village of Ninety Six, as the county town 

1 Sabine's Am. Loyalists, 234, 253; "The Battle of Eutaw Springs," 
De Peyster, United Service Ilagazine, September, 1881, 312. 

2 Stedmau's Am. War, vol. II, 3G6. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 281 

of Ninety Six was called. It consisted of sixteen salient 
and reentering angles, with a dry ditch and abatis. But 
none of the works were in a finished condition at this time. 
In this state of uncertainty the whole garrison was imme- 
diately set to work, the officers cheerfully sharing in the 
labor with the common soldiers ; a bank of earth was in a 
short time thrown up round the stockade and the whole 
strengthened by abatis. Blockhouses were also erected in 
the village, traverses made for the security of the troops, 
and covered communications between different parts of the 
work. On the north of the village was a valley through 
which ran a rivulet that supplied the place with water. 
The county prison, having been fortified, commanded this 
valley on one side and a stockade covered it on the other. 
Such was the condition of this post and garrison, which by 
accident and fortitude alike were to employ almost the 
whole of the American army, between three and four times 
its numbers, for a month in a useless and unsuccessful siege, 
while Lord Rawdon with the rest of the British army re- 
covered from the effects of the loss of the other posts, 
received timely reenforcements and regained the ground 
it had lost. 

Greene reached Ninety Six with his army of between 
one thousand and eleven hundred men on the night of the 
22d of May.i It was dark and rainy, and so favorable to 
the purposes of reconnoitring, Colonel Lee asserts, that 
General Greene committed the determination of the course 
and mode of approach to Count Kosciuszko, the famous 
Pole, who was then serving at the head of the engineers in 
the Southern army; and that he, not regarding the im- 
portance of depriving the enemy of water, for which they 
were dependent on the rivulet, applied his undivided atten- 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 358 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, 
vol. II, 142. 



282 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tion to the demolition of the star, the strongest point of 
the enemy's defence.^ Johnson questions this statement, 
and, upon the authority of a member of the general's staff 
at the time, states that the general himself directed the 
operations of the engineers, that he reconnoitred the posi- 
tion under cover of the favorable weather the night of 
their arrival, with Kosciuszko and Captain Pendleton, his 
aide ; and that the project of cutting off the water was 
well weighed and considered, and rejected on mature de- 
liberation because another supply could easily be obtained 
by digging, as was done during the siege of Williamson's 
men by the Tories under Robinson in November, 1775, 
when H well was dug and water obtained on this very spot. 
It was also considered, he adds, that the star commanded 
the other works, and that the approaches against the water 
would be useless against the star, while on the other 
hand, by the efforts to defend the rivulet the enemy 
weakened himself at the principal point — the star.^ But 
an obvious answer to the suggestion was the apparent fact 
that the enemy had gone to much trouble in the con- 
struction of a covered way to the rivulet, and incurred 
so great an increase of duty in defending it. This spoke 
for itself the importance Cruger deemed its protection. 
Moreover, as Johnson himself points out, the British histo- 
rian Stedman asserts that the attempt was made by the 
garrison with great labor, but that no water was found. 
Nor, upon a careful perusal, does the account of the siege 
of 1775 warrant the assurance that any great quantity of 
water was then obtained ; for Drayton, the historian, states 
that there was a total want of it from Sunday morning, the 
19th of September, to Tuesdaj^ afternoon, the 21st. True, 
he adds, that the fatigue parties, with great labor, after 

1 Memoirs of the ]Var of 1776 (Lee), 359. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 142. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 283 

penetrating through a very tenacious clay soil forty feet 
deep, obtained a supply which relieved the necessities of the 
garrison.! But as the siege was terminated on Wednes- 
day, the 22d, the water obtained on that occasion may not 
have been more than enough for the emergency of a few 
hours. But however that may be, Greene now commenced 
his operations on the other side without attempting or 
even threatening interference with the supply of water, 
upon which, as it really happened, the garrison depended. 
Whether General Greene himself decided upon this plan of 
the siege, or left it entirely to the direction of Kosciuszko, 
is not in the question now under consideration a matter 
of importance, as in either event the responsibility for its 
consequence and result must rest upon Greene as the 
commander. 

An undulation in the ground seventy yards distant from 
the star works, at a point which the enemy's artillery did 
not cover, was chosen as the position from which to com- 
mence operations. Work upon a mine at this point was 
begun on the night of the 22d, but from this the Ameri- 
cans were quickly driven. Guns were at once mounted by 
Cruger on one of the salient angles opposite, and under 
their fire a party of thirty sallied out, entered the works, 
and put to the bayonet every one they found. Finding 
from this experience that the position was within the 
range of the enemy's fire, Greene withdrew his parties to 
a more secure distance. Here they broke ground on the 
23d. On completing the first parallel, a mine directed 
against the star was commenced under cover of a battery 
erected on the enemy's right. Day and night the work was 
pressed by the besiegers, and sallies were constantly made 
by the besieged. The besiegers, alternately laboring in the 
ditches or guarding those who labored, slept only on their 
1 Drayton's Memoirs, vol. II, 122. 



284 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

arms ; yet so zealously and expeditiously did they work 
that, although frequently interrupted by daring attacks of 
the enemy, scarcely a night passing without loss of lives 
on both sides, by the 3d of June the second parallel was 
completed. 

Greene now summoned the garrison to surrender. 
Singularly, the message was not only carried, but signed, 
by the adjutant general instead of himself. To it Cruger 
promptly replied : — 

" I am honored with your letter of this day intimating Major 
General Greene's immediate demand of the surrender of his Majesty's 
garrison at Ninety Six; a compliance with which my duty to my 
Sovereign renders inadmissible at present." ^ 

While boldly determined to maintain his post at all 
hazards, Cruger was not aware how serious a matter this 
his defiance was to the American general. The latter had 
now been for some time in possession of intelligence that a 
reenforcement of three regiments of British troops had sailed 
from Cork, and were probably destined for the port of 
Charlestown. Greene did not know, however, what was 
the fact, that Lord Cornwallis had sent from Wilmington 
a despatch boat to Charlestown, directing Lord Rawdon not 
to permit these troops even to cross the bar, but to forward 
them directly to New York, nor that that despatch boat 
had been interrupted by American cruisers.^ Looking out 
for such a reenforcement to the British army in South 
Carolina, as early as the 26th of May Greene had learned 
that a fleet had appeared off Charlestown bar, and wrote 
to Sumter to make the strictest inquiry who or what they 
were.^ While anxiously waiting for information confirm- 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 144. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 146; Clinton- Corntoallis Contro- 
versy, vol. II, 37. 

8 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1890, Appendix, 103. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 285 

ing or denying this report, Greene was impatiently expecting 
the arrival of fifteen hundred Virginia militia for which he 
had called. He had hoped for their coming in time to have 
taken part in the battle of Hobkirk's Hill, and their failure 
to do so was one of the causes to which he attributed his 
defeat on that occasion. Now he had been calculating with 
certainty on their joining him before Ninety Six, and en- 
abling him to press the siege with vigor and bring it to a 
close. But day after day elapsed under this last hope, when 
the astounding intelligence arrived that their march had 
been countermanded by Governor Jefferson. It had been 
Greene's intention, it appears, to hasten through the work 
in South Carolina with this help, that he might march 
with his more efficient troops to reenforce and supersede 
Lafayette in Virginia. But this the action of the gov- 
ernor of that State had prevented, and he was obliged to 
remain in South Carolina in this uncongenial service, and 
to wait the slow progress of the siege. 

In the meanwhile Marion had written to him that Lord 
Rawdon lay at Monck's Corner, and asking permission to 
make an attack upon Georgetown. This request, in his let- 
ter of the 26th, he referred to Sumter for answer, upon two 
conditions : first, that Lord Rawdon was making no prepa- 
rations which had the appearance of interrupting the sieges 
of Augusta and Ninety Six ; and second, that Marion's 
moving to Georgetown would not expose Sumter's own 
position or interfere with his movements. Colonel Bran- 
don, he writes, had called at Niiiety Six on his return home, 
and shown him Sumter's orders to bring his men to his aid 
below, but that, for particular reasons, which he would after- 
wards explain, he had interfered with that arrangement 
and had desired Brandon to join him with all the force 
he could collect, to expedite the reduction of Ninety Six.^ 
1 Sumter MSS. 



286 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

To this Sumter replies, acquiescing in this diversion of his 
troops, and expressing his gratification that they could be 
of service to the general.^ The particular reason, which 
he would not risk committing to the possibility of falling 
into the enemy's hands, was doubtless his disappointment 
as to the coming of the Virginia militia, and the difficul- 
ties he began to realize in the siege he had undertaken. 
Johnson, indeed, states that on first reconnoitring the post 
General Greene predicted his failure in the attempt to re- 
duce it, and wrote to Lafayette that the fortifications were 
so strong and the garrison so large that success was very 
doubtful.2 But why had not this been ascertained before 
turning aside from the pursuit of Rawdon ? The post 
was well known. Sumter or Pickens could no doubt have 
informed him minutely as to its works and its garrison, 
without the waste of men and time to ascertain its condi- 
tion himself. But now that he had come to Ninety Six and 
sat himself down before the post, disappointed in the reen- 
forcements he expected from Virginia, he had no other re- 
liance but upon the men of three States which had borne the 
brunt of the war for the last year. He immediately issued 
orders for the North Carolina levies to join him, and appealed 
to Governor Rutledge, Generals Sumter, jMarion, and 
Pickens in South Carolina, and to Colonel Clarke in 
Georgia for assistance.^ 

While General Greene was thus engaged, Marion, having 
obtained Sumter's consent, marched on the 3d of June to 
Georgetown, and, appearing before it on the 5th,^ began his 
approaches ; but these were rendered unnecessary, for on 

1 Letter of the 7th June, Nightingale Collection. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 141. 
8 Ihid., 145. 

* This date is usually given as the 6th, but in Marion's letter to Sum- 
ter of the 6th he wrote, '■'■Yesterday I levelled all the works." — Sumter 
MSS. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 287 

the night after the British garrison evacuated the town, tak- 
ing shipping for Charlestown, whereupon Marion immedi- 
ately levelled the works. Thus it was that three sieges 
were in progress at the same time, to wit, from the 3d to the 
5th of June, that is, at Augusta, Ninety Six, and Georgetown. 
Augusta and Georgetown were taken possession of on the 
same day. It was while at Georgetown that Marion, on the 
6th of June, received intelligence from one of his officers 
near Haddrell's Point that seventeen transports with troops, 
said to be two thousand in number, had crossed the bar and 
gone into Charlestown. The moment Marion received this 
information he wrote at once, informing Sumter.^ Johnson 
observes that the fleet arrived on the 2d of June, and that 
some idea will be formed of the efficiency of General 
Greene's arrangement for procuring intelligence, when it 
is told that on the 6tli he received, at Ninety Six, Charles- 
town papers of the 2d containing the news — the distance 
is near two hundred miles. He cites also, as an instance of 
Marion's vigilance and capacity in procuring intelligence, 
that he received this paper the same day that it was printed, 
and forwarded it through Sumter, who by some fatality 
did not receive the intelligence, though it passed through 
his hands, until the enemy had commenced his march. 
But in this statement there is some confusion in dates 
from which Sumter suffers to the advantage of Greene 
and Marion. 

Tlie Royal G-azette^ published in Charlestown at this 
time, was issued in the afternoon twice a week. In the 
issue "From Wednesday, May 30, to Saturday, June 2," 
under date of June 2, we find this item : — 

" We have the happiness to congratulate our readers on the safe 
arrival of a large fleet from Corke with a powerful reenforceinent for 
the Royal Army. They came to anchor this afternoon off our bar. Mr. 

1 Sumter MSS. 



288 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Greene, we are well assured, lately took occasion to announce in 
general orders to the army that the fleet above mentioned had been 
captured by the French." 

This notice in the G-azette establishes the date of the 
arrival of the fleet off the bar, which had been some 
days before in the offing, as of the 2d, and not as of 
the 3d, as stated by most authors.^ The paper might 
have reached Greene some time before the 10th, possibly 
on the 6th, as stated by Johnson, but it did not come 
from Marion ; it is apparent that Marion knew nothing 
of it, nor did it give Greene any information as to the 
reenforcement brought, nor assure him that the fleet off 
Charlestown bar would land any troops which it may 
have brought. Indeed, had not Lord Cornwallis's despatch 
boat been captured by the American cruisers the fleet would 
not have crossed the bar, but would have sailed for Virginia. 
Greene writes to Sumter on June 10th : " By a Charles- 
town paper of the 2d I find a fleet has lately arrived at 
that place and it is said with a large reenforcement. As 
you do not mention anything of it in your letter I imagine 
you have not received an account of it. Please to make 
particular inquiry into the matter.'"^ When Greene wrote 
this, on the morning of the 10th of June, he certainly had 
no special information from Marion. It was the paper of 
the 2d which had informed him of the arrival of the fleet 
off the Charlestown bar. If, indeed, it was remarkable that 
the paper should have reached Greene two hundred miles 
away from the place of its publication within four days, it 
would have been more wonderful, if not impossible, that it 
should have done so through the hands of Marion, who then 
was before Georgetown, thus adding many miles more at least 

1 Stedman's Am. War, vol. II, 371 ; Annual Begistcr, vol. XXIV, 91 ; 
Tarleton's Campaigns, 480 ; Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 370. 

2 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 108. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 289 

to its journey. The information which Greene received 
from Marion, and upon which he acted, he received through 
Sumter on tlie 10th, after he had written the letter just 
quoted. The next issue of the G-azette, that published on 
the 6th June, announces : " Yesterday afternoon the flank 
companies of the regiments lately arrived were landed in 
town. Their appearance was truly elegant, martial, and 
healthy." The troops landed, therefore, on the 5th. Marion 
at Georgetown, on the 6th, while writing to Sumter on other 
matters, received intelligence of the landing of these troops, 
— but from an official at Haddrell's Point, and not by the 
Grazette. He writes : " This moment Irecd intelligence from 
one of my off''* near Haddrell's point that seventeen trans- 
ports with troops, s*^ to be two thousand, had arrived in 
Ch'stown, which information he had from two of our officers 
who sd they had seen the vessels go in." Marion himself, 
therefore, received the information, not from a newspaper, 
but from his officers, and did not receive it until the day after 
the landing of the British troops. The information he im- 
mediately forwarded to Sumter on the 6th, and Sumter for- 
warded it as soon as received, on the 8th, to Greene, who 
received it on the 10th, after he had despatched to Sumter 
the letter of the same date already quoted, instructing him 
to make particular inquiry in regard to the fleet. On the 
receipt of this information Greene writes again to Sumter 
on the 10th : " I received your letter of the 8th accompany- 
ing a letter from Gen^ Marion. I wrote you this morning 
respecting the reenforcements mentioned having got intelli- 
gence thereof before the arrival of your letter." ^ From these 
facts it is clear that Sumter was at no fault in this matter, 
and that Greene did not receive the information of the 
disembarkation of the troops directly from Marion, but 

1 Sumter MSS. 

" Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, lOG. 

VOL. IV. — u 



290 HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

through Sumter, who forwarded it to him. Nor can we 
agree with the biographer of Greene, that the incident 
exhibits any very great efficiency in his arrangements for 
procuring intelligence. The receipt of the pa^jer four da3^s 
after it was published, if it was then received, was certainly 
no great accomplishment. Still less was the receipt of the 
information of the landing of the troops five days after it 
had occurred. But the inference is strong that Greene had 
not received The Royal Crazette of the 2nd before the 10th. It 
is only on that day that he mentions so important a matter to 
Sumter, and directs him to make particular inquiry in regard 
to it. Surely, if he had received the paper on the 6th or any 
time before, he would not have delayed to the 10th to inform 
Sumter and to instruct him to make inquiries and report. 
On the 11th Sumter writes that he has received no further 
report upon the subject.^ 

In the meanwhile Colonel Lee, with the cavalry of his 
Legion, had reached Ninety Six from Augusta on the 8th, 
and Greene, on the receipt of Sumter's and Marion's let- 
ters, at once put Washington's horse and the cavalry of 
Lee's Legion in motion to join Sumter to meet the new 
danger ; and in his letter to Sumter he writes that it is his 
wish that, if the enemy should advance into the country, he 
should collect all his force and skirmish with them, moving 
out of their way all the cattle, means of transportation, and 
subsistence — that it was his intention to fight the enemy 
before they got to Ninety Six. " Collect all the force you 
can," he writes, " and give positive orders for Gen^ Marion 
to join if the enemy attempt to penetrate the country. 
The force from Augusta," he adds, "has arrived at this 
post, and I think when we are collected we can fight 
a good battle, and if the enemy's force do not exceed 

I Letter of 11th, In Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charles- 
ton, 1899, Appendix, 28. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 291 

twenty-five hundred we shall have a fair prospect of 
victory." ^ 

The British reenforcement which arrived from Ireland 
consisted of the Third, Nineteenth, and Thirtieth regi- 
ments of foot, a detachment of the Guards, and a con- 
siderable body of recruits, the whole under the command 
of Colonel Gould of the Thirtieth. Lord Cornwallis's 
despatch ordering the fleet to repair at once to Virginia 
had been intercepted, as has been stated; but it appears 
that under previous instructions Lord Rawdon and Colonel 
Balfour had been directed to send these troops on to that 
State unless the service in this required their presence 
here. These officers made known to Colonel Gould the 
power which Lord Cornwallis had given them for detain- 
ing such part of his command as they might deem neces- 
sary, and he at once concurred in the view that the 
immediate defence of this province was the more urgent 
service, and disembarked his troops. Lord Rawdon about 
this time was enabled also to add to the efficiency of his 
force in a manner which relieved him of one of his greatest 
difficulties. Since the movement of Cornwallis into North 
Carolina, taking with him Tarleton's Legion and the re- 
mains of the Seventeenth Dragoons, his greatest deficiency 
had been cavalry. To remedy this in a measure the loyal 
inhabitants of Charlestown made a subscription amount- 
ing to near 3000 guineas, which sum they requested his 
lordship to apply to the purpose of equipping a corps of 
dragoons in the manner he should judge most expedient. In 
compliment to the loyalty of the gentlemen who had made 
this subscription, Rawdon determined to use it in connection 
with the men of the province, and accordingly ordered the 
South Carolina Regiment of Royalists to b© converted into 

1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 
107. 



292 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

cavalry.^ The cavalry thus raised was put under the com- 
mand of Major John Coffin, a Loyalist officer from Boston, 
who commanded the few cavalry at Hobkirk's Hill. 

With his force thus increased, now consisting of some- 
thing more than 1700 foot and 150 horse, Lord Rawdon 
marched on the 7th for the relief of Ninety Six. He was 
joined on his way by Colonel Doyle with the troops he had 
left at Monck's Corner, and pressed his march with all the 
rapidity which the excessive heat of the weather would per- 
mit.2 With Doyle's detachment Lord Rawdon's force now 
amounted to a total of 2000 men.^ 

In the meanwhile Greene had pressed the siege of Ninety 
Six. His approaches continued to be pushed in the hope 
that they might be completed in time to force the submis- 
sion of the garrison before Lord Rawdon could come to its 
assistance. Upon the arrival of the infantry of Lee's Legion 
that officer was directed to take post opposite the enemy's 
left, and on the 12th he began regular approaches against 
the stockade which protected the garrison's supply of water. 

Two attempts were made by the besiegers to bring mat- 
ters to a crisis. The different plans which had been adopted 
with so much success at Fort Watson and Fort Motte were 
each now in turn again tried. The attempt was made to 
fire the buildings by means of arrows bearing combustible 
substances, as at Fort Motte. Cruger unroofed his houses 
and put an end to that danger. Then it was tried to fire 
the stockade, as had been done at Fort Watson. A ser- 
geant and nine brave men of the Legion approached the 
stockade from the most concealed direction, and when 
exposed to view crawling upon their bellies, reached the 

1 Rawdon's letter to Cornwallis, June 5, 1781, Tarleton's Campaigns, 
480-481 ; Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 89-90. 

2 Annual Becjister, vol. XXIV, 92. 
^Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 373. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 293 

ditch, but unfortunately the sergeant was discovered while 
in the act of applying his fire, and, with five of his men, was 
killed. Tlie remaining four escaped unhurt, although 
many muskets were discharged at them before they reached 
cover. These attempts failing, nothing remained to the 
besiegers but the slow progress of regular approaches. 

About this time it was that one evening a countryman, 
says Lee, was seen riding along the lines south of the town, 
conversing familiarly with the officers and soldiers on duty. 
There was nothing in this, he adds, to attract particular 
attention, as from the beginning of the siege friends in the 
country were in the habit of visiting camp, and were per- 
mitted to go wherever their curiosity led them. This man 
was supposed to be one of these ; but when he reached the 
great road leading to the town, in which quarter were 
only an embankment thrown up for the protection of the 
guards, he put spurs to his horse and rushed with full 
speed into town, receiving the ineffectual fire of the Amer- 
ican sentinels and guards nearest him. The gate was 
opened, and he was received with loud expressions of joy. 
He was the bearer of a verbal despatch from Lord Rawdon 
to Cruger, announcing his arrival at Orangeburgh in ade- 
quate force, and informing him that he was hastening to 
his relief.^ This information infused new life and deter- 
mination in the garrison, and was correspondingly depress- 
ing to the besiegers. 

The Americans, however, continued to push on their 
works. Maham towers were erected, but Major Green of 
the garrison, who commanded in the star redoubt, finding 

1 Lee states that this messenger held in hand a letter as he rode into 
the garrison, but Stedman asserts that he bore only a verbal message, 
which would be most probable under the circumstances (Memoirs of the 
War nf 1776, 374 ; Stedman's Am. War, vol. II, 371 ; Johnson's Life of 
Greene, vol. II, 148). 



294 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAEOLINA 

that one of these would soon overlook his parapet, very 
judiciously covered it with sand-bags, leaving between each 
bag an aperture for the use of his riflemen, and thus ren- 
dered the towers in a great measure ineffectual. The 
regular approaches had been carried on with so much vigor 
that, notwithstanding repeated interruptions from sallies by 
the enemy, the stockade fort was now so completely enfiladed 
by a triangular fire that, being no longer tenable, it was on 
the 12th evacuated in the night. The loss of this work 
was a great blow to the garrison. It cut off the supply of 
water. This had been anticipated by Colonel Cruger, who 
had tried the digging of a well, but without success. The 
sufferings of the garrison on this account now began to be 
extreme. Water could only be obtained from the rivulet 
at night; and Stedman relates that this was done by send- 
ing out naked negroes, whose bodies in the darkness were 
not distinguishable from the trees surrounding them. The 
garrison could not much longer have endured this condi- 
tion of things, but cheered with the hope of Lord Rawdon's 
approach, they yet held out. 

It was General Greene's hope that, with the reenforce- 
ment of Pickens and Clarke from Augusta, and the junc- 
tion with him of Sumter and Marion, he might be able to 
meet Lord Rawdon and give battle without raising the 
siege of Ninety Six. And for this purpose he was calling 
upon Sumter for information in 'regard to his lordship's 
movements. Sumter was at Granby on the Congaree, with 
Colonel C. S. Mydelton in command of the greater part 
of his brigade at McCord's Feny, some thirty miles below. 
General Greene, it must be observed, had reluctantly given 
his consent to Marion's expedition to Georgetown, and in 
this instance he was undoubtedly right in hesitating to 
allow Marion to put himself so far out of the way of the 
line of present operations. He had cautioned Sumter only 



IN THE REVOLUTION 295 

to allow it in case Lord Rawdon was making no prepara- 
tions which had the appearance of interrupting the sieges 
then going on at Augusta and Ninety Six. There had been 
no such appearances at that time, nor indeed had Lord Raw- 
don then any such purpose, as the fleet had not arrived. 
Still, the capture of ^such a detached post as Georgetown, 
out of the way of any line of communication, and so only 
valuable for what it itself contained, scarcely warranted the 
risk necessary upon so long a separation of Marion's com- 
mand from cooperation with Greene's army upon a sudden 
emergency. And so it happened that his position at George- 
town had greatly delayed the information of the landing of 
the British reenforcements ; nor could he now rejoin Sum- 
ter in time to interpose before Lord Rawdon's advance. 

On the 14th of June Colonel Mydelton, at McCord's 
Ferry, reported to Sumter that he had certain accounts of the 
enemy's marching up in force by way of Orangeburgh; that 
the prevailing report was that they were going to Ninety 
Six ; that he had ordered all his baggage and unarmed men 
across to the north side of the Congaree, while with the 
armed men he would change his position to one farther up 
the river, as a defeat in his present situation would prove 
ruinous. He reported also that Colonel Lacey had just 
joined him.^ This report Sumter at once communicated to 
Greene, but the latter could not believe that Rawdon's 
movement was against Ninety Six. " I cannot persuade 
myself," he wrote to Sumter, on the 15th, " that the enemy 
mean to pay a visit to the place. If they attempt it, and 
we can collect our forces, it may prove difficult for them 
to get forward or backward. Keep in front of the enemy 
that we may have an opportunity to fight them with our 
collective strength," etc.^ By the 17th, however, he be- 

1 Sumter MSS., Tear Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 110-111. 

2 Ibid. 



296 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

came more alarmed, and wrote to Sumter in reply to his of 
the 15th, that, as the enemy continued to advance, and by 
Marion's reports the reenforcement was so much more con- 
siderable than he expected, it was possible they meant to 
raise the siege. He urged Sumter, if possible, to secure 
prisoners, from whom he might learn what troops were out on 
this expedition, the names of the corps, and the command- 
ing officers. Captain Rudulph, who commanded the cavalry 
of Lee's Legion, he informed Sumter, was only thirty miles 
from his own headquarters that evening, having delayed 
his march through a mistake of his orders. Ammunition 
was getting scarce with him, but he would try to forward 
seven or eight thousand cartridges to him. General Pick- 
ens had arrived, and his militia would be in that evening, and 
would advance to his support.^ Later that day he received 
another report from Sumter of the 16th, and again wrote 
him that he could only repeat his wishes to have the militia 
constantly employed in galling the enemy as they advanced. 
Where can the enemy, he asks, have collected such a numer- 
ous cavalry as you mention? He informed Sumter that 
it would be impossible to reduce the place for several days 
to come, and that there was no chance therefore of effect- 
ing its reduction unless they could first beat the enemy .^ 

But this was now impossible. The opportunity which 
Sumter had seen and urged had been lost. Cruger's 
courage and fidelity had enabled his little force to neutral- 
ize for weeks Greene's whole army ; and Marion's expedi- 
tion to Georgetown, Rudulph's delay under mistaken orders, 
and probably Sumter's own inaction, caused by his exhaus- 
tion from his wound, all united in preventing a junction 
before his lordship's column, which might possibly have 
somewhat delayed its march. But even this is doubtful. 

1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 112. 
a Ibid. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 297 

Lord Rawdon had now two thousand excellent troops, part 
of them fresh and vigorous, and the rest well seasoned and 
disciplined. And though Lee declares the cavalry raised by 
the Loyalists in Charlestown were but poorly mounted,^ it 
appears that on this march at least they had so well covered 
the movements of the army as to cause Greene's wonder 
where so numerous a cavalry could have been collected. 
So far from beating the advancing British, Sumter's men 
themselves incurred a great disaster. 

Lord Rawdon's direct course from Orangeburgh to Ninety 
Six was in a northwesterly direction, nearly parallel with 
the North Edisto and Congaree rivers. Instead, however, 
of following this road, he bore to the right. This threat- 
ened the post of Granby, Sumter's headquarters and the 
depot of the American stores, as well as the position of a 
detachment recently established there. General Sumter 
therefore, had remained there, and to that point ordered up 
his reenforcement of militia until he had ascertained that 
Lord Rawdon on the 15th had passed Orangeburgh. Sum- 
ter then moved slowly up the Congaree and Saluda, so 
as to keep up his communications with the detachment 
below and Ninety Six above. But Lord Rawdon, passing 
Granby, pushed on, and having the shorter route, crossed 
the present county of Lexington, entered that of Edgefield, 
and crossed the Little Saluda near its junction with the 
greater river of that name. By this movement Rawdon 
had placed himself directly between Greene and Sumter. In 
his letter to Sumter of the 17th Greene had directed that 
officer to detach a small party into the enemy's rear to cut 
off supplies and pick up stragglers. As soon, therefore, as 
Lord Rawdon appeared. Colonel Mydelton, who was at 
McCord's Ferry, moved out to harass his rear and to cut off 
his parties engaged in collecting cattle. Mydelton suo- 
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 379. 



298 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ceeded in giving considerable trouble in this way, but unfor- 
tunately he allowed himself to be led into an ambuscade by 
Major Coffin and his cavalry, and his party was so com- 
pletely cut to pieces and dispersed that only 45 out of 
150 could be collected. Some stragglers rejoined their 
commander, but many were killed, and more too much 
demoralized to return to the service. ^ 

The shouts of the garrison as Lord Rawdon's messenger 
rushed into the gates not only confirmed Sumter's reports 
of his lordship's approach, but assured Greene that Cru- 
ger was now also aware of it, and that the garrison would 
endure their thirst until the expected relief should arrive. 
It now became necessary, therefore, to hazard an assault, 
to meet Rawdon, or to retire. Greene was disposed to turn 
upon Rawdon. But his regular force did but little exceed the 
half of that of the relieving army, which, added to the partisan 
bands of Sumter, Marion, and Pickens, still left him numer- 
ically inferior to the British general. Compelled to relin- 
quish this plan, he determined to storm the fort, although 
his works were yet unfinished. This determination seems 
to have been influenced largely by the troops themselves, 
who demanded to be led to the assault.^ 

Orders were issued to prepare for storming, and the hour 
of twelve on the next day, 18th of June, was appointed 
for the assailing columns to advance by signal from the 
centre battery. 

On the left of the besiegers their third parallel was com- 
pleted, two trenches and a mine were nearly let into the 
enemy's ditch, and the Mahara tower was finished. On 
their right the trenches were within twenty yards of the 
enemy's ditch. Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell of the First 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 153 ; Tarleton's Campaigns, 487 ; 
Sumter's letter to Greene in Nightingale Collection. 

2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 375. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 299 

Virginia Regiment, with a detachment of the Maryland 
and Virginia line, was charged with the attack on the left, 
and Lieutenant-Colonel Lee with the Legion infantry and 
Kirkwood's Delawares with that on the right. Lieutenants 
Duval of Maryland and Seldon of Virginia commanded 
the forlorn hope of Campbell, and Captain Rudulph of the 
Legion that of Lee. Fascines were prepared to fill up the 
enemy's ditch, long poles with iron hooks were furnished 
to pull down the sand-bags, with every other requisite to 
facilitate the progress of the assailants. At eleven o'clock 
the third parallel was manned, and the sharpshooters took 
their station in the tower. Upon the signal as ordered, the 
assailing columns entered the trenches. At the second 
cannon, which Avas discharged at the hour of twelve, 
Campbell and Lee rushed to the assault. Cruger, always 
on the alert, received them with his accustomed firmness. 
His works were manned and bayoneted pikes bristled 
above the parapet, while from the loopholes between the 
sand-bags poured an incessant stream of fire, making dread- 
ful havoc among the assailants. The form of the redoubt 
gave complete command of the ditch, and exposed the 
storming party to a cross fire, the effects of which increased 
as the abatis was removed. Duval and Seldon had entered 
the enemy's ditch at different points, and Campbell stood 
prepared to support them in the rear of the party, furnished 
with hooks to pull down the sand-bags. This party had 
also entered the ditch and began to apply the hooks. Un- 
covering the parapet now, says Lee, would have given us 
victory, and such was the vigorous support afforded by the 
musketry from the third parallel, from the riflemen in the 
tower, and from the artillery mounted in battery, that san- 
guine expectations of this happy issue were universally 
indulged. The moment the bags in front were pulled 
down, Campbell would have mounted the parapet, where 



300 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAEOLINA 

the struggle could not long have been maintained. Major 
Green, commanding in the star redoubt, perceiving the 
danger to which he was exposed if this lodgement was 
effected, determined to put a stop to the assault. Two 
parties of thirty men each, one under Captain Campbell of 
the New Jersey volunteers, and the other under Captain 
French of De Lancey's, issued from the sally port in the 
rear of the star, entered the ditch, and, taking opposite 
directions, charged the Americans who had made the lodge- 
ment with such impetuosity that they drove everything 
before them until they met in the opposite quarters. The 
bayonet being the only weapon used, the carnage was great. 
Two-thirds of the Americans who had entered the ditch 
were killed or wounded. The few survivors escaped with 
the hookmeu to the trenches where Campbell yet remained. 
On the other side Rudulph gained the enemj^'s ditch and, 
followed by the column, soon opened liis way into the 
stockade fort which the enemj^ had previously evacuated, 
but in which there were now a few remaining, who, giving 
their last fire, retreated precipitately. Lee was prejDaring to 
follow up this blow by passing the rivulet entering the 
town, when Greene, recognizing that the effort to reduce 
the place by storm could only succeed at a sacrifice he 
could not afford, called off the assailants. 

Greene's loss during the siege was 185 killed and 
wounded,! the enemy's loss 27 killed and 58 wounded,^ 
in all. Captain Armstrong of the Maryland line was the 
only American officer killed, and Lieutenant Roney the 
only one on the other side. 

Greene reluctantly resolved to abandon the siege, and in 
the night of the 19th moved off across the Saluda, having first 
issued orders to Sumter to move up within the fork of the 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 377. 

2 Steduiaii's Am. War, vol. II, 373. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 301 

Broad and Saluda, and to form a junction with him. The 
retreat from Ninety Six was pressed without intermission be- 
yond Bush River, a distance of twenty-two miles on the route 
tliat crosses the streams at their lowest fords, in what is 
now Newberry County. Here Greene halted to observe the 
movements of the enemy. On the morning of the 23d 
intelligence was received that Lord Rawdon had en- .^ed 
Ninety Six at two o'clock on the 21st, and the American 
army was immediately put in motion. Crossing the Enoree, 
Tyger, and Broad rivers, it halted on the 25th at a place 
called Tim's Ordinary, eleven miles beyond Lyle's Ford, 
on Broad River, in what is now Fairfield County, near 
Winnsboro. Greene's army thus now occupied the very 
position from which Lord Cornwallis had advanced in 
January.^ 

Lord Rawdon did not move from Ninety Six until the 
morning of the 24th, believing from the reports of deserters 
that the American army was still encamped at Bush River. 
On that day, taking with him the troops of the garrison 
and all the force capable of sustaining the fatigue, in all 
about two thousand effectives, and without even their 
knapsacks or a wheel carriage except his ammunition 
wagons, he made a vigorous push to overtake the retreating 
army. He did not, however, extend his pursuit beyond 
the Enoree. Washington and Lee covered the rear of 

1 It was while Greene was between the Enoree and Broad rivers that 
he is alleged to have sent Miss Emily Geiger with a despatch to Sumter, 
over a hundred miles aioay, on the Wateree River. But the despatches 
which passed almost daily between Greene and Sumter, and the evidence 
of all contemporary historians, show that Sumter was never on the Wat- 
eree at any time that Greene was west of the Congaree or Broad rivers, 
but that he was on the west side all the time that Greene was, and that 
he crossed to the east side of the Broad at the same time that Greene did, 
and that Emily Geiger could not have borne such a message as she is 
alleged to have borne. 



302 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Greene's army and prevented any foraging on the part of 
the British, whose newly raised cavalry under Major Coffin 
were inadequate to oppose the veteran cavalry of these 
officers. Nor were the British troops in a condition to 
press the pursuit after their recent march of two hundred 
miles in ten days, to which they had now added thirty- 
seven in a day and a half. They suffered too greatly 
under the intense heat of the season, especially the newly 
arrived European soldiers, clad in thick cloth uniforms. 
Lord Rawdon on the 24th retraced his steps and returned 
to Ninety Six. 

Such was the disastrous end of the siege of Ninety Six — 
a post which would have been evacuated but for the unfortu- 
nate move against it. It was, of course, not by any means 
impossible that had Greene followed Sumter's advice and 
followed Lord Rawdon to Monck's Corner in May, and 
forced him to battle there, he might have been beaten, 
for indeed, such was his ill fortune that he gained no single 
victory throughout his Southern campaigns. But if fight 
he must, as he was obliged afterwards to do at Eutaw, it 
was surely better to have offered battle in open field, while 
his own troops were flushed with success, and his ranks, full 
in consequence, were ready to be led on; wliile the British, 
reduced in numbers and dispirited, were in no condition to 
oppose him. The chances of success immediately after the 
fall of Orangeburgh, Fort Motte, and Granby were infinitely 
greater than when he was afterwards obliged to risk them 
in September. The last two weeks in May, from the fall 
of Granby to the arrival of the British fleet off Charles- 
town bar on the 2d of June, presented the great opportunity 
to Greene of striking a decisive blow which might have 
ended the campaign and covered him with glory. With 
Sumter's and Marion's corps then full in numbers and 
buoyant with victory, he might with the rest of his Conti- 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 303 

nentals have risked battle, even had ho sent Leo with hi« 
Legion to assist Pickens in reducing Augusta. Ninety Six 
would have fallen without a blow, and the garrison met 
in the open field rather than behind fortifications which 
proved impregnable. As it was, by turning aside to be- 
siege the post at Ninety Six, Greene allowed Cruger's 
small garrison to engage exclusively the attention of his 
Continental army, and thus to neutralize it until Lord 
Rawdon, reenforced by the newly arrived troops, could 
come to Cruger's relief. The siege of Ninety Six had 
caused the loss of all that had been gained in May by 
Sumter, Marion, and Lee. The country below the Con- 
garee and the Saluda was again in the possession of the 
British. 

But Greene had his usual consolation. The miscarriage 
of the siege was somebody else's fault, not his. The battle 
of Guilford had been lost by the North Carolina militia, 
that of Hobkirk's Hill by Gunby's mistake and Sumter's 
absence, and now it is Governor Jefferson who plucked 
away his laurels. " Had the Virginia militia joined ws, 
agreeable to orders^ success would have been complete,'" he 
wrote to the President of Congress, and adds, " Our move- 
ment to the southward has been attended with very great 
advantages, and had not this reenforcement arrived so soon, 
or had not the Virginia militia failed me, the manoeuvre 
would have been crowned with complete success."^ 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 151. 



CHAPTER XIII 

1781 

Lord Rawdon had now driven Greene back across the 
great rivers, and recovered the country lately wrested from 
him by Sumter, Marion, and Lee. He had raised the 
siege of Ninety Six, and relieved its garrison of Northern 
Tories, who had emulated the conduct of the best British 
troops of the line. But could he hold the territory which 
the accidental reenforcement he had received had enabled 
him to recover ? This question pressed upon his consider- 
ation, and demanded an immediate determination. It had, 
in fact, as we have seen, been decided by him before 
Greene's advance upon Ninety Six ; and that movement 
alone had prevented the evacuation of the post and the 
consequent abandonment of the country. Had his reen- 
forcements and Greene's forced retreat altered the condi- 
tions of the situation to such an extent as to change his 
policy? Clearly not. The evacuation of the post had 
been resolved upon before Greene had crossed the Con- 
garee, because of the loss of his intermediate posts of 
Granby, Motte, and Orangeburgh. These, it is true, were 
not now held by the Americans, but they were just as liable 
to recapture if garrisoned again as they had been to the 
first assaults made upon them. It was these "little strokes" 
which Greene so much despised that had broken up the 
British line of communication and decided Lord Rawdon 
to abandon the country. True, Rawdon had received a 
reenforcement of three regiments, but this was in part 

304 



IN THE REVOLUTION 305 

neutralized by the loss of the kmg's American Regiment, 
which, at the demand of Sir James Wright, he had sent as 
a reenforcement to Savannah ; and to a greater extent by 
the loss of the garrisons captured. If, then, he should 
attempt to hold this part of this province, he must use his 
new troops to reestablish the garrisons he had lost. But 
here another consideration presented itself, causing him to 
hesitate to call upon Balfour for more troops from Charles- 
town, and possibly to doubt if such call would be answered 
if made. The expectation and apprehension of a French 
fleet and army on the coast in order to cooperate with 
Greene and to put a final end to the war in this quarter 
had a great influence on the operation of this campaign, 
and on the conduct and movement of the commanders 
on both sides.-^ While this apprehension existed, would 
Balfour consent that the newly arrived troops should 
leave the town and be marched into the country, out of 
reach in case the French should appear? This he could 
scarcely expect, unless, indeed, for the temporary pur- 
pose of facilitating his own retreat to the town. For this 
purpose he determined to apply to Balfour at Charles- 
town, urging the expediency of sending a strong corps to 
Orangeburgh as a provision against any immediate attempt 
upon that place. The result of the application will pres- 
ently be seen. 

But however manifest was the policy of withdrawing 
into closer lines in a military point of view, the political 
aspect of the question was most embarrassing. The dis- 
tricts of Ninety Six and that between the Saluda and 
Broad had been overwhelmingly loyal to the king, and 
had been supported in their opposition to the Whigs by 
the garrison at Ninety Six. The Tory sentiment in this 
region had been greatly strengthened by Colonel Cruger, 
1 Tarleton's Campaigns, 504. 

VOL. IV. — X 



306 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

who was as wise an administrator as he was a gallant 
officer. What, then, was to become of the king's friends 
in this region, who had stood so loj-ally to his cause ? In 
this dilemma. Lord Rawdon convened the principal Tories 
of the region, and made proposals to them that, if they 
would keep together and undertake the defence of the 
district against their fellow-countrymen, a small party 
should be left to keep them in countenance, with the 
further encouragement that detachments from the Con- 
garee should at all times be sent to their support, equiva- 
lent to any force which Greene might despatch to invade 
their territory ; and that, on the other hand, care should 
be taken to provide for the removal of such families as 
should prefer to be settled upon the abandoned plantation 
within the new frontier which was now intended to be 
established. The Loyalists decided, for the security and 
preservation of their families, to bring them away under 
the protection of the army, determining also that, when 
settled within the assigned limits, the men should be 
embodied in order to make incursions into the abandoned 
territory.^ 

Lord Rawdon did not wait, however, even for the determi- 
nation of the Loyalists in this matter, but, leaving Colonel 
Cruger behind with much the greater part of his force for the 
purpose of carrying his orders into execution, on the 29th of 
June he marched, himself, with eight hundred infantry and 
sixty horses, for the Congaree. As has been stated, he had 
previously written to Colonel Balfour, urging the expediency 
of sending a strong corps to Orangeburgh, and that he ex- 
pected to meet it at that place. Upon Balfour's applica- 
tion to Colonel Gould, who still retained the independent 
command of the troops he had brought with him, that 
officer had immediately granted a battalion of his corps for 
1 Annual Begister, vol. XXIV (1781), 94. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 307 

that purpose ; and Lord Rawdon, before his departure from 
Ninety Six, had received advice from Balfour, not only of 
Gould's compliance, but that the Third Regiment was under 
orders to arrive at Orangeburgh by a specified day, and there 
to wait his instructions, and, as if to remove every possi- 
bility of doubt, he received a subsequent letter from Colonel 
Alexander Stuart,^ who commanded the regiment sent, 
informing him that he was already considerably advanced 
on his way to Orangeburgh. This information and a full 
confidence in the expected support were the grounds upon 
which Lord Rawdon based his immediate plan of operations, 
and were particularly the cause of his leaving so great a 
part of his force with Colonel Cruger at Ninety Six. 
Assured of Colonel Stuart's advance, his lordship de- 
spatched a number of messengers to meet him, appointing 
their junction at the Congaree on the 3d of July.^ 

In the meanwhile Greene had sent Lee with his Legion 
to hover about the post of Ninety Six, observing Rawdon's 
movements, and to keep him informed of minutest occur- 
rences. Washington, with his cavalry and Kirkwood's in- 
fantry, was directed to move down between the Broad and 
Wateree — the present county of Richland — to Granby, 
and, throwing himself between that post and Orangeburgh, 
to pursue the same course as pointed out to Lee. General 
Sumter at the time was preparing for an expedition lower 
down the country, and Marion was instructed to cooperate 
with him in that quarter.^ Having made these arrangements, 
Greene recommenced his march, quieting the apprehension 

1 In the American histories this name is usually spelled Stewart, but 
we prefer to follow the English authorities, Tarleton, and Stedman's 
American War, in which it is spelled Stuart. In the Annual Begister it 
is, however, spelled Stewart. 

* Annual Begister, supra. 

' Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 158 ; Greene's letters to Marion and 
Lee, Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 100-101. 



308 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of the country by advancing a day's journey on the route 
to Granby. Here he halted, as well to ascertain the ulti- 
mate view of the enemy as to await the arrival of a detach- 
ment of two hundred North Carolina levies under Major 
John Armstrong, and remained for two days at Big Spring 
on Rocky Creek, in the present Fairfield County. He had 
learned from a deserter who came in on the evening of the 
28th of June, that a quantity of stores, under an escort of four 
hundred infantry and forty cavalry, was moving slowly up 
the Orangeburgh road for Rawdon's army, not making more 
than ten miles a day. This, no doubt, was the party which 
Rawdon had appointed to meet him on the 3d of July at 
Orangeburgh. Lee was at once ordered to form a junction 
with Washington at Ancrum's plantation, near Granby, and 
intercept this body. Sumter was also directed to detach 
Mydelton's regiment to join Washington.^ This last officer, 
however, who had been pushing his observations towards 
Orangeburgh, had fortunately intercepted a letter of Colonel 
Stuart informing Rawdon of his advance towards Orange- 
burgh, but stating the impracticability of reaching Granby by 
the 3d of July. Lee, at the same time, that is, on the even- 
ing of the 1st, informed him that Rawdon had marched from 
Ninety Six with less than half his force. Greene determined 
at once to seize the opportunity of striking Rawdon before 
Stuart reached him. The American army was put in motion, 
but had proceeded no farther than Winnsboro by the 3d of 
July ; here it was stripped of everything which could im- 
pede its march, and was left under the command of General 
Huger with orders to press on to the Congaree, while Greene 
himself, attended by a small escort of cavalry, pushed on to 
find Colonel Washington and to observe more particularly 
the indications by which his measures should be directed. 
Lord Rawdon appears to have been informed of this hurried 

1 Sumter MSS., Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 117. 



IN THE KEVOLUTlOiSr 309 

movement of Greene, and, at once apprehending danger to 
the reenforcement he had sent for, he too hastened to reach 
Granby in advance of the American army. This brought 
liim to Granby two days before the time appointed, and 
his appearance there had no small effect upon the issue of 
Greene's scheme, for the seizure of this post was all impor- 
tant to its success. Greene's failure to secure this position 
between Rawdon and his reenforcement was in some decree 
compensated by a successful blow struck by Lee on his lord- 
ship's arrival at Granby, but rendered less important by the 
recall of Stuart, a knowledge of which neither party at the 
time possessed. 

Colonel Lee had, with his usual zeal and activity, obeyed 
Greene's order and kept close watch upon the move- 
ments of the British army. From his knowledge of the 
adjacent country, he was satisfied that, upon his arrival at 
Granby, Lord Rawdon would be compelled to send out 
foraging parties to the south of that place, as nowhere else 
in the neighborhood could he obtain supplies. Deter- 
mining to avail himself of any opportunity which might 
thus arise, he detached Captain Eggleston of the cavaliy to 
proceed, with thirty dragoons, along the enemy's right, and, 
taking with him Captain James Armstrong, previously 
despatched in that quarter with a reconnoitring party, to 
make, in the course of the night, a proper disposition of his 
force for the contemplated purpose. Eggleston immedi- 
ately joined Armstrong, and placed his party in a covered 
and convenient position. As Colonel Lee had anticipated, 
a foraging party, consisting of fifty or sixty dragoons and 
some wagons, soon after daylight of the 3d of July, were 
discovered approaching the very farm to which Eggleston 
had directed his attention. As soon as the wagons and 
escort had advanced within reach of Eggleston, he rushed 
upon the enemy, broke up the foragers, routed the i^arty. 



310 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and brought off forty-five dragoon prisoners, including a 
captain, without any loss whatsoever to his party .1 This 
was quite a serious blow to Rawdon, as it deprived him of 
almost his entire cavalry, and so rendered hiui incapable of 
either collecting supplies or obtaining information. 

Learning nothing of Stuart, who had in fact been recalled 
by Balfour to Charlestown upon some alarm of French in- 
vasion, and had retraced his steps as far as Dorchester,^ 
but convinced by Lee's appearance of the approach of the 
American army, Lord Rawdon delayed only to destroy the 
boats for some distance down the river, and immediately 
pressed on to reach Orangeburgh. His route lay across 
Congaree Creek, a branch of the river of that name, at 
about three miles distant, a broad piece of water in some 
parts deep, and enclosed by difficult banks. Lee made 
some opposition to the crossing of this stream. He de- 
stroyed the bridge and felled trees to render the fords 
impracticable. But after a few ineffectual shots between 
the parties he withdrew, and the British crossed and pressed 
on. In this march from Ninety Six to Orangeburgh, more 
than fifty of the British army fell dead from heat, fatigue, 
and privation. 3 

Johnson observes that it is curious to follow out the well- 
concerted measures of the American commanders to their 
final failure ; that in common with the Commander-in-chief, 
General Greene had often to dissemble his feelings, and to 
bear with his officers because the service could not well 
bear their loss. In this instance, he states that neither 
Mydelton nor Lee ever joined Washington, and that Lee, 
instead of directing his views against Stuart, thought 
proper to throw himself in front of Rawdon, in prosecution 
of a feeble and fatal effort to embarrass his march. As to 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (t^ee), 380-381. 

2 An7iual Register, vol. XXIV (1781), 95. » Ibid., 97. 



IN THE REVOLUTIOISr 311 

Sumter, he observes, that the express despatched after him, 
after three days' search, found him at Hanging Rock on the 
Catawba in prosecution of some measure connected with his 
command, which he did not abandon, and which detained 
him until the 8th or 9th of July. This criticism of his officers 
to cover the misfortune of the commander is scarcely just. 
For it must be remembered that Lord Rawdon's prompt 
and vigorous movement to Granby had disconcerted all of 
Greene's plans, and had Lee received the order to join 
Washington, he must have hesitated to do so, and thus to 
deprive his commander of all information as to the enemy's 
movement, under an order which he knew to have been 
issued under the supposition of a condition of things 
which no longer existed. He certainly did, in fact, render 
much more important services to Greene in destroying the 
enemy's cavalry force than he could possibly have done in 
going in search of Stuart, who at that time had fallen back 
to Dorchester. For Sumter, it must be said that he was 
daily in communication with Greene, and had informed 
him by letter of the 2d of the necessity of his movements,^ 
in reply to which, Greene writes to hira from his head- 
quarters, which were still at Winnsboro, on the 3d of 
July: 2 "Your letter of yesterday overtook me on the 
march for the Congaree. I doubt not material advantages 
will result from your visiting the upper regiments, but I 
fear the opportunity for striking the posts at Monck's 
corner and in that neighborhood is past." So too, Captain 
Pierce, A.D.C., writes to him by General Huger's direction 
as late as the Tth,^ " No barriers will be thrown in your 
way to obstruct the execution of your plan & our best 
wishes attend you for your success." ^ When, therefore, 

^ Sumter's letters, Nightingale Collection, Tear Book, City of Charles- 
ton, 1899, Appendix, 36, 37. 

2 Ibid., 118. 8 Jl)i^l^ 121. * Sumter MSS. 



312 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Greene reached Washington, he did not expect to find 
Sumter there, but knew that he was busy recruiting his 
forces preparatory to striking the post at Monck's Cor- 
ner, which Avas in accordance with his previous orders to 
him to penetrate lower down the country. True, in his 
letter of the 3d from Winnsboro, and in a second the same 
day from a point at which he was encamped, having left 
Winnsboro that day, he had urged Sumter to join him at 
Friday's Ferry, opposite Granby, as he had just learned 
that Lord Rawdon had reached that point. And this 
Sumter proceeded to do as soon as he had collected his 
force, though in doing so he abandoned his favorite plan of 
striking at the enemy's posts below. He joined Greene on 
the 8th, the day after Huger wrote him that no barriers 
would be thrown to obstruct his plan, for the success of 
which the best wishes of all attended him. 

Washington, in the meantime, anxious to prosecute the 
enterprise against Stuart, despatched a courier to Marion, 
who was below with four hundred men, pressing him to 
hasten to unite in the undertaking. When Greene 
reached Washington, Marion had joined him, and at the 
head of these two corps he resolved to lead the enterprise 
in person. Passing down the Orangeburgh road on the 6th, 
he succeeded in avoiding Lord Rawdon, and there, watch- 
ing the progress of the British army, at the head of a com- 
pany of Washington's cavalry, lest relief should be jDushed 
forward to Stuart, he detached Marion to attack and seize 
this important convoy, not only with relief for Lord Raw- 
don's army, but with the various supplies necessary to 
reestablish the post at Granby. Hourly communications 
were kept with Marion, and positive information obtained 
that Stuart was still below and approaching. Everything 
now promised success, when at one o'clock on the morning 
of the 8th Marion sallied forth from his covert to seize 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 313 

upon his prey, but to his utter discomfiture Stuart, un- 
conscious of his danger and influenced only by a choice of 
roads, had turned aside into one while Marion had pur- 
sued another, and they had passed each other in the night. 
On the morning of the 8th Rawdon and Stuart formed a 
junction at Orangeburgh.^ 

Greene was greatly disappointed upon his failure to in- 
tercept Stuart, but summoning Sumter, Marion, Lee, and 
Washington to form a junction as soon as possible, he 
resolved to march upon Orangeburgh and offer the enemy 
battle. The militia under Pickens was not included in 
this order, for that officer was at this time employed on the 
important mission of watching the motions of Cruger. 
Reenforced already by Stuart, if joined now by Cruger, 
Lord Rawdon's force would have been overwhelming, lack- 
ing only in cavalry. Colonel Stuart, to his lordship's great 
disappointment, having brought none with him. But Cru- 
ger was approaching.^ 

That officer, it will be recollected, had been left at 
Ninety Six to cover the retreat of the Loyalists' families. 
Whilst waiting their assembling, says Johnson, it would 
have been happy for his reputation, and that of the British 
arms, had he confined his efforts to the demolition of the 
defensive works that had been constructed at that post. 
But this last opportunity of wreaking vengeance on the 
unfortunate Whigs could not be suffered to pass away. A 
swarm of Tories, supported by a regular force, were per- 
mitted to carry fire and sword into the Long Cane settle- 
ment. The ravages sanctioned in this quarter gave 
countenance to the assertion that orders had been issued 
to lay the whole country waste. This dreadful calamity 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 162. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 163 ; Annual Register, vol. XXIV 
(1781), 96. 



314 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

is sometimes justified or excused by the necessities which 
war imposes ; but what was there to justify it here ? They 
were abandoning the country, there was no army to be 
starved into a retreat, and the country was entirely too 
remote to furnish supplies to that which must be the seat 
of war. There is but too much reason to believe that the 
measure was one of revenge, perhaps of plunder or the 
petulance of disappointment. Fortunately Pickens and 
Clarke were at hand to check the ravages, and reenforced 
by the enraged inhabitants, whose smoking dwellings still 
stimulated their vengeance, the enemy were once more 
forced within their intrenchments or under the protection 
of their guns. Recent advices from Rawdon of his increas- 
ing difficulties hurried on the evacuation of the post of 
Ninety Six. And now the scene was changed. 

Cruger, says the same author, at the head of a cavalcade 
not unlike the pictures of an exodus, commenced his march 
on the 8th of July. Many had been the distressing scenes 
that the country had exhibited, but few had equalled this. 
And to add to the mental and bodily sufferings of the 
miserable Loyalists, parties gathered from the recently 
desolated settlements, and reenforced by those habitual 
plunderers who had disgraced the American cause, hunted 
and cut off the small parties as they moved towards the 
rendezvous appointed on Cruger's line of march. Nor 
were their sufferings destined to terminate with this dan- 
gerous and distressing journey to which every age, sex, 
and condition were exposed, but after reaching the tract 
of country to which they were ordered to retire, and their 
land of promise, — the rich estates of the banished Whigs, 
— they soon found that all the remuneration and protection 
promised them ended in delusion. If they were fortunate 
to survive the diseases of the climate, they were soon driven 
from their new homes by the wandering parties of Whigs, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 315 

or perhaps excluded by some prior possessors who did not 
find it convenient to relinquish their hold. At length 
they gathered in great numbers in the wretched settlement 
called Rawdon Town, in the suburbs of Charlestown, 
which had been formed by their predecessors, the Loyalist 
refugees from Camden, whose miseries were now to be 
increased by their coming. Here many perished. Some 
who had brought with them their slaves removed to some 
of the British settlements in the West Indies, where their 
descendants still live. Others, resolved to brave the dan- 
gers of returning to their native homes, secretly stole back 
and finally cast themselves on the clemency of their neigh- 
bors. None, it is said, who had not rendered themselves 
infamous by their crimes, were repulsed. In Pickens they 
found a zealous and benevolent protector.^ 

Though encumbered with this caravan, old men, women, 
and children, laden with household goods, besides the ordi- 
nary impediments of an army, Cruger, nevertheless, pressed 
forward with astonishing celerity, fear of being left behind 
and losing liis protection aiding his efforts to hasten his 
convoy on the march. Lord Rawdon had written, urging 
his utmost speed, and by travelling by moonlight he was 
enabled to mitigate the sufferings attendant upon marching 
over barren sands in such a climate at such a season. He 
approached by a route which led between the great forks 
of the Edisto, crossing into that place, at a bridge to the 
west of the town, thrown across the northern branch of the 
river. For a great distance above and below that point 
the river was impassable, so that he proceeded in security 
from attack by the troops to its east. Pickens, with all 
his exertions, could not collect together a force sufficient 
to retard his march. As soon as Cruger had reached a 
point so far down the fork as to relieve him from fear for 
1 Johnson'3 Life of Greene, vol. II, 163-164. 



316 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the safety of the refugees, he left them under the protection 
of their own mounted men, with instructions to pursue 
their journey down the southwest side of the Edisto, so 
as to keep that river between them and the American 
parties. 

On the 10th of July, General Greene, having been 
joined by Sumter and all his different detachments, moved 
within four miles of Orangeburgh, and offered the enemy 
battle. The ground he chose is on the north side of 
the creek which crosses the old Oranfjeburgfh road to 
Granby, four miles from the town. The force he had 
with him amounted to about two thousand, but there were 
scarcely eight hundred regular infantry. Lord Rawdon's 
force after the junction with Stuart was estimated at fif- 
teen hundred, all disciplined men. In artillery the two 
armies were nearly equal ; in cavalry the preponderance 
was greatly in favor of the Americans. The advantages 
upon the whole were decidedly in favor of the latter, 
unless Cruger should rejoin Lord Rawdon before the issue 
of the battle. But it was known that Cruger was approach- 
ing, and his lordship had taken possession of the court- 
house, a strong brick building of two stories, not inferior 
in the estimation of Greene to a strong redoubt, with some 
other buildings commanding his approach, and securing 
his retreat over the bridge in case of misfortune.^ 

If, therefore, an attack was to be made, it must be made 
at once, before Cruger arrived. Recognizing this. General 
Greene reconnoitred the position in person at the head 
of cavalry, and reluctantly concluded that an attack was 
injudicious. In this view Lee asserts that some of his 
officers, in whose opinions he properly confided, did not 
concur. They advised that an attempt should be made.^ 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 1G6. 

2 3Iemoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 385. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 317 

But Greene adhered to his opinion, and having offered 
battle for two days, he moved off with his infantry on the 
night of tlie 13th, and, crossing the river, retired to the 
High Hills of Santee. 

Sumter had abandoned the repetition of his favorite 
plan of operations, the striking at the posts of the enemy 
upon the line of his communications in his rear, and had at 
Greene's call joined him before Orange burgh; and when it is 
known that some of Greene's officers were opposed to retir- 
ing from Lord Rawdon's front without striking a blow, it 
may be safely assumed that Sumter was one of those who 
were for making the attempt. But now that that was 
given up, Greene turned over all the mounted men to him, 
and gave him leave to start upon that memorable incursion 
into the lower country which drove the enemy in all 
quarters into Charlestown, and for a while prostrated every 
appearance of Royal power beyond its limits. 

There had been great activity as well in other parts of the 
State. While Marion was before Georgetown he had de- 
tached Colonel Peter Horry with a force against the Loyal- 
ists upon the Pee Dee. The repeated struggles between the 
contending parties in that country, also, had now nearly 
reduced it to desolation, and Colonel Horry was sent to 
endeavor in some way to put an end to the murderous 
strife. As he was authorized to do, Colonel Horry, on the 
part of General Marion, on the 17th of June, negotiated a 
treaty with Major Gainey, who styled himself " commanding 
officer of the Tories or king's subjects, inhabitants lying 
between the great Pee Dee River and North Carolina," by 
which it was agreed that from that time all hostilities on 
both sides should cease ; that both parties should have 
free intercourse to traffic together unmolested ; that in 
case of injuries committed on persons or property on either 
side, the captain or officer commanding the injured party 



318 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

should make complaint to the officer commanding the 
wrong-doer, whereupon a jury composed of two Whigs and 
two Tories, with an officer from the side of the com- 
plainant, should be called on to sit as a court-martial, and 
determine the matter between them and to inflict such 
punishment as should appear reasonable and just; that 
property not taken in action (but plundered), on being 
proven by either party, should be restored.^ This treaty 
afforded some pacification to the country, but was not 
strictl}'' complied with until Marion, ten months after, 
found leisure to impose another, more humiliating, upon 
Gainey and his followers.^ 

A few days after General Marion had forced the evacua- 
tion of Georgetown, i.e. on the 10th of August, one Man- 
son, an inhabitant of the country, who had joined the 
British, appeared in an armed vessel before the town, and 
demanded permission to land his men. General jMarion, it 
will be remembered, had been recalled to join Greene, and 
there was only a small party of militia left in the place. 
These refusing the permission asked, Manson sent a few 
of his men ashore under cover of his guns, and set fire to 
some of the houses next to the water. He then directed 
his crew to fire on the burning houses in such a direction 
as prevented the inhabitants from either extinguishing tlie 
flames or removing their property. Forty-two houses in 
this flourishing town were on this occasion reduced to 
ashes. ^ 

In the meanwhile, however. Colonel Harden had not 
been idle in the Low-Country, and had established a camp 
at the Horse Shoe on the Ashepoo River. Here Hayne 
joined him, having at length yielded to the wishes of those 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist.. (1781-82), 98. 

" James's Life of Marion., 122 ; Johnson's Life of Greene., vol. II, 128. 

8 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 236. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 319 

of his neighbors who had revolted from the British au- 
thority, and upon their petition he had been appointed by 
Pickens to the command of their regiment. Having com- 
mitted himself to the cause and resumed his arms, Hayne 
at once entered the field with boldness, enterprise, and 
vigor. Taking with him a small party of mounted men, 
he dashed into the immediate vicinity of Charlestown, pene- 
trating to within five miles of the town, and on Thursday 
night, the 5th of July, he there surrounded the house oc- 
cupied by General Andrew Williamson, who, when Pickens 
"took the field the fall before, had returned from Ninety 
Six, then to become the scene of struggle, and had gone to 
the British in Charlestown. Here he was living, as he no 
doubt supposed, in security, away from the danger of in- 
roads by Clarke or McCall, or any other of the partisan 
bands of his former party. But he had not counted upon 
Harden and his followers, still less upon Hayne, who, like 
himself, had refused to take any part in the struggle since 
the capitulation of the city. He was seized in bed, and, 
without allowing him time even to put on his clothes, he 
was carried away a prisoner. Great indignation and mor- 
tification was excited in the British lines when they learned 
that Williamson had been thus snatched away from their 
protection under their very guns. The honor of the 
British army, they felt, demanded his rescue, and Major 
Eraser, with ninety dragoons, was detached next day in 
pursuit. After a circuitous march of more than seventy 
miles through the woods, with the most profound secrecy, 
on Sunday morning, the 8th, Major Fraser surprised the 
camp at Horse Shoe, to which Colonel Hayne had re- 
treated with his prisoner. The British slew fourteen of 
the party on the spot and wounded several others. Colonel 
Hayne was taken prisoner, Lieutenant-Colonel McLauch- 
lan was killed, and his brother. Captain McLauchlan, 



320 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

dangerously wounded. The rest of the party were dis- 
persed.^ 

The circumstances of the capture of Colonel Hayne are 
interesting not only because of its tragic end. As has been 
intimated, Colonel Hayne was fond of horses, and, like 
many of the gentlemen in the State, had a stock of thor- 
oughbred animals. In this disastrous expedition he was 
mounted on a very fine horse of his own breeding called 
King Herod; but the animal, during his master's inac- 
tivity, had become too fat and heavy for great exertion, 
and in this raid had been foundered. Upon his return 
Colonel Hayne, deeming himself secure, with Mr. Charles 
Glover and a few followers, had turned into the plantation 
of Mrs. Ford, about four miles beyond Parker's Ferry 
across the Edisto ; the rest of his party, apparently, pro- 
ceeding to the camp at Horse Shoe under Lieutenant- 
Colonel McLauchlan. While resting here, on Sunday 
morning, a company of British cavalry was seen galloping 
up the avenue. Colonel Hayne endeavored to escape by 
crossing the rice fields at the back of the plantation, but 
Captain Campbell, who commanded the company of cav- 
alry, saw and pursued him. Mr. Glover and most of the 
party escaped. Colonel Hayne soon found that his horse 
was giving out, and coming to a fence, the horse balked ; 
whereupon, instead of pressing him to take the leap, he 
dismounted and took down the fence, and thus facilitated 
the crossing of his pursuers. Captain Campbell, of Major 
Fraser's party, seeing this, knew his success was sure, and 
steadily gained on his flying foe. Shortly after, in leaping 
a ditch, the side of it caved. Colonel Hayne's horse fell, 
and he was captured. It is said that Captain Campbell — ; 
who was known in the garrison and town as " Mad Archy," 
and who was himself to fall before the end of the war — was 
1 The Royal Gazette, July 11, 1781, 



IN TFIE REVOLUTION 321 

very indignant at the ultimate fate of his captive, and de- 

chired that if he had thought such would have been his 

end, he would have killed Hayne in the pursuit, with his 

own hand, that he at least might have died the death of a 

soldier.^ 

1 Johnson's Traditions, 361, 362. 



CHAPTER XIV 

1781 

In the expedition which Sumter had planned and which 
he was now allowed by Greene to undertake against the 
posts in the rear of Lord Rawdon, and in the neighborhood 
of Charlestown itself, he had under his command, besides 
his own brigade, that of Marion, and the Legion of 
Lee, with a detachment of artillery of one piece. In his 
own brigade he had his old comrades of Hanging Rock, 
Fishdam, and Blackstock — Taylor, Lacey, Mydelton, and 
Henry Hampton, with whom he had first checked and 
turned back the tide of British conquest, and who were 
still his devoted followers. To these were now added two 
other Hamptons, Wade and Richard. With jNIarion were 
the heroes of the Pee Dee, Peter Horry, Maham, and 
Baxter, the leaders under him in many brilliant affairs. 
The command thus consisted of all the State troops, with 
the exception of Pickens's brigade, which was still hovering 
in Cruger's rear, and Harden's small party, ranging upon 
the Ashepoo and Combahee. These State troops were not 
regulars, but they were now veterans, who had seen more 
actual service and fought more battles than probably any 
Continental troops in the service, with the exception of 
the Legion, which now accompanied them. It was a splen- 
did body of men, most of whom were volunteers, though 
veterans, fighting purely for patriotism and not for pay. 
The best of horsemen, unerring shots, and well disciplined 
in their rude way, they were most excellently fitted, alike 

322 



IN THE REVOLUTION 323 

by character and experience, for the service upon which 
they now entered. With such a body of men Sumter had 
every reason to expect the most substantial results. He 
had even enlisted some enthusiasm upon the part of Greene 
in the prospect of its success. 

And Sumter did accomplish much. Perhaps it is not 
too much to say that he shook the fabric of the Royal au- 
thority to an extent which caused greater alarm than had 
yet been experienced, and demonstrated to a greater de- 
gree than had yet been done the impracticabilit}'- of the 
British possession of the State. But the expedition, nev- 
ertheless, did not accomplish what it should have done. 
Had it succeeded, it is not probable that the battle of 
Eutaw would have been fought. 

It is not an agreeable task to a historian of the State to 
dwell upon the foibles of her great men, but the truth of 
history as it affects the current of events requires the ob- 
servation, which may not have escaped the reader, that 
there had been a persistent and growing jealousy between 
the three great leaders, Sumter, Marion, and Lee. Lee's 
dislike of Sumter was open and avowed, and most improp- 
erly encouraged by Greene himself in their private corre- 
spondence. Indeed, notwithstanding the expressions to 
Sumter personally of the greatest confidence in and reli- 
ance upon his wisdom and conduct, it can scarcely be 
doubted that Greene himself depreciated Sumter's charac- 
ter quite as much as did Lee. If we are to accept Lee's 
own account of this expedition, he studiously ignored, not 
only Sumter's command, but even his presence. This, 
however, was not altogether unnatural. Sumter's commis- 
sion, though superior to that of Lee by two grades, was 
but that of the State ; while Lee's was from Congress, and 
his command regulars, or Continentals, as they were called. 
On the other hand, Lee should have remembered that not 



324 HISTORY OP SOUTFI CAROLINA 

only was Sumter raucli older than himself, not only that 
he had been fighting the French and the Indians before 
Lee was born,^ but that he too had been a Continental 
officer, and as such liad greatly outranked him. Lee had 
been restless under the command of Marion or Pickens, 
and was still less willing to serve under Sumter. 

Had jealousy only existed on the part of Lee to Sumter, 
it would not have been so unfortunate as that it sliould 
also be entertained by Marion as well. But this cannot 
be doubted. Marion's letters all disclose an impatience of 
Sumter's control, and it will be recollected that during 
Greene's absence from the State, while Sumter was exer- 
cising superior command under the direct and explicit 
orders of Governor Rutledge, communicated directly to 
Marion himself, Sumter in vain appealed to Marion, if not 
for obedience, at least for cooperation. It cannot, how- 
ever, escape the observation of even a panegyrist of the 
great leader that it was the misfortune of Sumter to incur 
in succession the hostility of Morgan, Greene, and Lee, as 
well as the want of cordiality upon the part of Marion. 
There may then have been something in Sumter's manner, 
if not in his conduct, which failed to conciliate those with 
whom he was called upon to act. And yet, in the corre- 
spondence between Greene and Sumter, now made public, 
we look in vain for the slightest want of cordiality and 
respect on the part of Sumter ; instead, we find the most 
constant attention to Greene's wishes, and an entire absence 
of even a suspicion of the hostile feeling we now kiiow to 
have been early entertained by Greene in regard to him. 
Nor must the devoted adherence of those with whom he en- 
tered the service in the darkest days of the struggle be for- 
gotten. It is proper also to observe that when Sumter first 

^ Sumter at this time was forty-five years of age, Lee was but twenty- 
five. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 325 

came in communication with Greene and Morgan he was 
an ill man, suffering intensely from his wound received 
at Blackstock ; that he was little better when leading his 
expedition to Granby and Orangeburgh in February, being 
scarcely able to write for pain, and yet in his saddle day 
and night ; and that but three weeks before he started upon 
this expedition, Colonel Polk, who had just been with 
him, informed Greene that his health was worse and his 
wound more troublesome. Probably Sumter was not in 
a physical condition to have undertaken this expedition. 
But who besides himself could have led it ? 

When Colonel Stuart resumed his advance to join Lord 
Rawdon with the Third Regiment, or "Buffs," as they were 
called, Lieutenant-Colonel Coates was sent in command of 
his regiment, the Nineteenth, and a body of mounted infantry 
of the South Carolina Rangers of 150, with one piece of artil- 
lery, to the post at Monck's Corner. This post, it will be re- 
membered, is about forty miles from Charlestown, little more 
than a half-mile to the west of the western branch of Cooper 
River, near its source, — the point at which the Santee Canal 
was subsequently made to enter it, — and near, also, to Biggin 
Church, in which a large amount of supplies were stored, 
about the same distance from the river on the eastern side. 
The direct road from Monck's Corner to Charlestown ran 
some twenty miles through the pine woods, until it met, 
at the Eighteen Mile House, the road from Dorchester ; 
then, crossing the Goose Creek bridge, a mile or two below, 
it continued, passing the Quarter House, situated at the 
commencement of the peninsula of Charlestown Neck, five 
miles, to the gates of the town. There was, however, 
another road, much travelled, which lay to the east of 
the western branch of Cooper River, which, after passing 
Biggin Church, crossed Fair Forest Swamp, another 
branch of the Cooper River, at Wadboo bridge, at the 



I 



326 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

plantation belonging to Mr. J. N. Colleton, from which point 
there was a choice of two routes : one, keeping close to the 
river, passed Childsbury Church and crossed the eastern 
branch at Bonneau's Ferry ; the other, turning still farther 
to the east, crossed the eastern branch of Cooper River 
much higher up, at Quinby bridge, at Colonel Shubrick's 
plantation. Both of these roads passed through St. Thomas' 
Parish and ended at Hobcaw, on the river, nearly four miles 
from the town, the point, it will be remembered, at which 
communication was so long maintained during the siege of 
the city. There was also a British post at Dorchester, and 
an outpost and guard at the Quarter House. This latter 
place, five miles from the town, was quite a resort for the 
inhabitants upon their pleasure drives, and for social par- 
ties — a custom kept up during the occupation of the town 
by the British. It was upon these posts, thus situated and 
garrisoned, that Sumter was now about to raid. 

In a letter to him on this occasion, written on the 14th 
of July, General Greene advised him "that by a letter 
from General Pickens, he finds that Cruger must have 
formed a junction with Lord Rawdon the evening before ; " 
therefore, he says, " there is no time to be lost ; push your 
operations night and day; keep a party to watch the 
enemy's motions at Orangeburgh as they move down. 
Should they move in any other direction, I will advise 
you. Keep Colonel Lee and General Marion advised of all 
matters from above, and tell Colonel Lee to thunder even 
at the gates of Charlestown. I have high expectations 
from their force and enterprise. Nothing can deprive you 
of complete success but the want of time. Do not neglect 
to have your boats in readiness for crossing your artillery 
over Santee, should it be necessary.*' ^ 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene^ vol. II, 166. (This letter is not in the 
Sumter MSS.) 



IN THE REVOLUTION 327 

At the date of this letter General Sumter's detachments 
were sweeping by every road that led direct to Charles- 
town, wliilst he, with the main body, was pursuing the 
Conp-aree road leading: down the south of that river and 
the east of the Cooper, towards Monck's Corner and Biggin 
Church. To Colonel Lee, with his legion, was assigned 
the service of carrying Dorchester, and then pressing on to 
carry terror to the gates of Charlestown, as Greene had 
directed. Colonel Wade Hampton, at the head of a de- 
tachment of Sumter's cavalry, was ordered to cooperate 
with Lee, whilst Colonel Henry Hampton seized and held 
the bridge at Four Holes Creek, a branch of the Edisto, to 
watch the enemy's motions from Orangeburgh, and to guard 
that pass, should Rawdon return. But as it was expected 
that Dorchester would offer some resistance, Henry 
Hampton, after posting a party at the bridge, had orders 
to proceed on and support Lee in the attack on that post. 
Colonel Wade Hampton, also acting in concert with Lee, 
passed on east of Dorchester, by the Wassamasaw Road, to 
Goose Creek bridge, thereby cutting off the communica- 
tion between Dorchester and Monck's Corner, and between 
the latter place and Charlestown by the direct route. A 
detachment of Marion's men, under Colonel Maham, pass- 
ing the head of Cooper River, penetrated below to the 
eastward of Biggin Church and Fair Forest Swamp, and 
seized the Wadboo bridge over that creek, which he was 
directed to destroy, and thus cut off the retreat of the gar- 
rison over that route. Thus admirably were the plans laid 
for this incursion, and the movements begun with prompt- 
ness and zeal. 

Contrary to expectation, Colonel Lee encountered no 
resistance at Dorchester. The garrison at the time had 
been greatly reduced by the draft made on it by Stuart, 
and recently by a very serious mutiny, in which it was said 



328 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

many were killed and wounded. The sudden appearance 
of Wade Hampton at Goose Creek bridge seems to have 
alarmed the garrison of Dorchester, and in their then de- 
moralized condition caused the post to be abandoned. 
But Colonel Lee arrived in time to seize a number of 
horses, variously estimated at from fifty to two hundred, 
and four wagons, three of which were empty, but the fourth 
contained a valuable supply of fixed ammunition. 

Whilst Lee was securing and sending off his prize, 
Wade Hampton's patience, it seems, became exhausted 
at his post at Goose Creek bridge, and hearing nothing 
from the former, and fearing that the opportunity of 
striking would be lost by the alarm that the knowledge 
of his appearance would occasion, or perhaps, as Johnson 
observes, apprehending that Lee meant to appropriate to 
himself the glory of the dash into the vicinity of the town, 
on Sunday morning, the 15th, he moved rapidly down the 
road, and, reaching the church at the time of service, he 
found a large congregation there, whom he surrounded 
and made several prisoners, whom he paroled, capturing 
also a number of horses.^ About two o'clock. Captain Read, 
who commanded Hampton's vanguard, reached the Quarter 
House, where he encountered a patrol of twelve of the 
Royal South Carolina Dragoons, under Lieutenant Waugh, 
who had just mounted and were setting out to reconnoitre. 
These Read immediately charged and made prisoners. 
Captain Wright of Wassamassaw was cut down in the 
scuffle by Lieutenant Waugh, who himself was also killed. 
The British claimed that Waugh was shot after he sur- 
rendered.2 Upon Hampton's approacli, the guard posted at 
this place, after exhibiting themselves on the advanced re- 

1 The Royal Gazette, July 18, 1781, speaks of this raid as having been 
commanded by Richard Hampton, but it was by Wade Hampton. 

2 Ibid. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 329 

doubts, surrendered. Several Loyalists, gentlemen of the 
town, were spending the morning at the Quarter House, 
some of whom were taken and paroled, and some escaped. 
But poor William Trusler, the butcher, who had been one 
of Gadsden's Liberty Tree party, and whose meddling with 
politics had so offended William Henry Drayton,^ and who 
had, like Drayton, changed sides, but, reversing the example, 
was now a good Tory, in attempting to make his escape 
was shot.2 Hampton's party retired, carrying off with them 
fifty prisoners, among whom were several officers. The 
news of this inroad as it reached the town created the 
greatest alarm and confusion. The bells were rung, the 
alarm guns were fired, and the whole city was under arms.^ 
If Hampton, determined that Lee should not get ahead 
of Sumter's cavalry on this occasion, as he had at Fort 
Motte and Granby, anticipated that officer's course, the 
latter, as an author, has avenged liimself for the opportunity 
thus snatched from him ; for in his account of these trans- 
actions, which have been recorded and preserved by John- 
son, and mentioned in The Royal G-azette, he speaks of 
Hampton's success as trivial, and without any allusion 
whatsoever to Hampton's surprise and temporary posses- 
sion of the post at the Quarter House, he states that a 
party of the Legion horse was pushed down below the 
Quarter House, on the Neck, from the confidence that in 
a place so near Charlestown an advantageous stroke might 
be made; but that it so happened, he says, that on that day 
none of the usual visits to the Quarter House took place, 
nor was even a solitary officer picked up in their customary 
morning rides.* 

1 History of So. Ca. Under Boy. Gov. (McCrady), 591, 651, 656, 752. 

2 The Royal Gazette, supra ; Johnson's Traditions, 33. 
8 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 1G7, 168. 

* Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 357. 



330 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

This movement of Colonel Lee's was made the day after 
Hampton's attack upon the place. Is it possible that 
Colonel Lee did not know this, nor understand the cause 
of a desertion of a place usually not only well guarded, but 
full of life? The two parties, Lee's and Hampton's, after 
this united and returned to join Sumter, as Johnson sug- 
gests, probably in no very good humor with each other. 

It is not unworthy of observation, in passing, that the 
two blows which had been struck the nearest to the town 
since its fall — indeed under its very guns — had each been 
delivered by one who was fighting, it may be said, in the 
language of the times, truly, if figuratively, with a halter 
around his neck; for Hayne and Hampton had taken their 
lives in their hands and were fighting without hope of quar- 
ter if taken. This truth Hayne was soon to experience. 

The first cause of the partial failure of the expedition so 
auspiciously begun is to be found in an unfortunate occur- 
rence which drew Sumter's attention away from the main 
objects, and occasioned a loss of that precious time of 
which Greene had warned him, and on which no doubt he 
fully appreciated that his success must depend. On his 
march he received intelligence that the enemy had ap- 
peared in force at Murray's — that afterwards known as 
Gourdin's — Ferry, across the Santee. This lay to the left 
of his line of march, but he thought it advisable to send 
off a strong detachment of three hundred men to strike at 
this hostile party. The intelligence was erroneous ; nor 
can it be understood from whence Sumter could have sup- 
posed any formidable body could have been drawn in that 
quarter. There certainly were no regular British forces in 
what is now Williamsburg County at this time. But, how- 
ever it was, this action caused delay, as Sumter considered 
himself too weak in the absence of his detachments to 
approach the enemy at Monck's Corner, within striking 



IN THE REVOLUTION 331 

distance. In the meantime the garrison at that place 
recovered from the alarm, and preparations were made for 
destroying the stores and evacuating the post. 

Colonel Coates had already, at the first intimation of the 
movements of Sumter, crossed from Monck's Corner to the 
church on the other side -of the river, thus determining 
the course of his retreat, should that be necessary, by the cir- 
cuitous route by Wadboo bridge across Fair Forest Swamp, 
and then by Quinby bridge across the eastern branch of 
Cooper River, and through St. Thomas' Parish to Hobcaw. 
Biggin Church was a strong brick building and had been 
fortified; and to this the enemy's supplies had all been 
removed from Monck's Corner. 

On the 16th, Sumter's force being collected, with the 
exception of Colonel Henry Hampton's regiment, which 
was still watching Cruger's movements, he moved for- 
ward so as to support Maham's detachment, which had 
been sent to make an attempt upon Wadboo bridge in 
Coates's rear. This detachment having been reenforced 
with another under Colonel Peter Horry, with whom was 
Colonel Lacey, Horry, ranking Maham, assumed command 
of the whole party, and proceeded to effect the desired 
destruction of the bridge. This Coates sent out his 
mounted men to prevent, who advanced with a great show 
of confidence, but were received with firmness and driven 
back in confusion. Colonel Lacey, with his mounted rifle- 
men, breaking entirely through their line, some were 
killed and a number taken prisoners. Horry then de- 
spatched an officer to destroy the bridge, and remained to 
cover the party engaged in the work ; but the enemy, who 
had actually begun their retreat, soon made their appear- 
ance in such force that Horryt unfortunately, considered 
it proper to call in the party engaged in destroying the 
bridge, and to retire before them to the main body. 



332 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Sumter, on the other hand, misconceiving Coates's move- 
ment, and believing tliat he had moved out to give him 
battle, retired behind a defile in his rear, and prepared for 
receiving the enemy. But Coates's purpose was only to 
delay him ; and accordingly, retiring in the evening, he 
gathered his stores in the church, set fire to them, and 
moved off on the road to the eastward, crossing the Wad- 
boo bridge, which Horry had abandoned. 

The flames bursting through the roof of the church about 
three o'clock in the morning announced to Sumter that the 
enemy had flown. The pursuit was immediately begun, 
but unfortunately Lieutenant Singleton, with his piece of 
artillery, was ordered to remain on the ground that he 
might not delay the movement of the infantry. Lee and 
Hampton led the pursuit and, passing Wadboo bridge, 
discovered that the mounted men of the enemy had sepa- 
rated from the infantry. The British account in The 
Royal Crazette states that the mounted men — the loyal 
South Carolina troop which had just been raised — were 
sent off because they could not longer be brought into 
use. This party took the road to the right nearest the 
river, while Coates, with the Nineteenth Regiment, turn- 
ing to the left, pursued that by Quinb}' bridge. Hampton 
struck off in pursuit of the mounted party, hoping to 
overtake them before they could cross either at Bon- 
neau's or Strawberry ferries, but he was disappointed; 
they crossed at the former before he could reach them, 
and secured the boats on the opposite side. Hampton 
had then to make his way back to Avitness the escape 
of the remaining object of pursuit; the enemy's infantry, 
lost, as it has been observed, perhaps because the first — 
the enemy's cavalry — had divided the attention of the 
pursuers.! 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 170. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 333 

Marion's cavalry under Colonel Maham had meanwhile 
joined Lee in pursuit of the infantry. It was very impor- 
tant to overtake Coates before he reached Quinby bridge, 
as it was well known that the stream there, the eastern 
branch of Cooper River, was only passable at the bridge, 
which it was certain Coates would destroy as soon as he 
crossed. The pursuit was therefore pressed with the utmost 
speed, and about a mile to the north of the bridge the rear 
guard of the retreating party was overtaken with nearly the 
whole of their baggage. The rear guard, commanded by 
a Captain Campbell, consisted of one hundred men of 
the Nineteenth Regiment; they at first exhibited a show 
of resistance, but, terrified at the furious onset of the 
cavalry, having as yet seen no service, being all recruits, it 
is said, they threw down their arms without firing a gun. 
Indignant at their conduct. Captain Campbell attempted to 
make his men resume their arms, an effort which unfortu- 
nately recalled Lee for a few moments from the pursuit 
of the body of the regiment, which he had resumed. The 
surrender of the rear guard, however, nearly proved fatal 
to the whole British regiment. 

Colonel Coates had passed Quinby bridge and had made 
dispositions for its destruction as soon as his rear guard and 
baggage should have crossed in safety. The planks which 
covered the bridge had been loosened from the sleepers, and 
a howitzer placed at its opposite end to protect the party 
left to complete its destruction after the rear guard should 
have passed. As neither alarm gun nor message had ap- 
prised Coates of an enemy's approach, and believing that 
his rear guard was still between him and the enemy, he 
was not prepared for immediate action. But fortunately 
for his command he was present at the bridge when the 
American cavalry came in view, and his measures were 
promptly taken to avert the threatening danger. His main 



334 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

body was at the time partly on a causeway on the south 
side of the bridge, and partly pressed into a lane beyond it, 
huddled together in such a position as to prevent their 
forming for action. Coates took immediate steps to extri- 
cate his men, and put them in such a position of defence as 
the emergency allowed. 

The Legion cavalry as they approached the bridge were 
in advance of Maham's command, Captain Armstrong 
leading their first section. Upon coming in sight of the 
bridge and of Coates's force, unguardedly reposing on the 
other side, but knowing that Lee, his commander, had been 
misinformed of the proximity of the bridge and of the 
situation, Armstrong sent back for orders. Lee, ignorant 
of the condition of affairs, sent his adjutant, warmly 
reminding him of the order of the day, which was to fall 
upon the foe without respect to consequences. Stung with 
this answer, the brave Armstrong put spur to his horse at 
the head of his section, and dashed across the bridge though 
the planks were sliding into the water and the lighted port 
fire approaching the howitzer at its end. So sudden was 
his charge that he drove all before him, the eneni}'- 
abandoning the howitzer. Unfortunately, some of the 
loosened planks were thrown off by Armstrong's section, 
as they galloped across, thus forming a chasm in the 
bridge and presenting a most dangerous obstacle to their 
followers. Nevertheless, the second section of the Legion, 
headed by Lieutenant Carrington, took the leap and closed 
with Armstrong, then engaged in a personal combat with 
Colonel Coates, who, placing himself on the side of a 
wagon which, with a few others, had kept up with the 
main body, was enabled effectually to parry Armstrong's 
sabre strokes at his head. Most of his soldiers, panic-stricken 
at the sudden and daring attack, had abandoned their 
colonel and were running through the field, some with, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 335 

some without arms, to take shelter in a farmhouse.^ The 
third section of the Legion, under Captain O'Neill, had fol- 
lowed Carrington, but faltered, whereupon Maham charged 
by the third section, but the killing of his horse arrested 
his career. Captain McCauley, however, who led the front 
section of Maham's men, pressed on, crossed the treacher- 
ous bridge, notwithstanding its dangerous condition. The 
causeway was now crowded, and a desperate hand-to-hand 
conflict ensued. Two of Lee's dragoons fell dead at the 
mouth of the howitzer, and several were severely wounded. 
Lee himself had now come up, and alighting, was engaged 
with Maham and Dr. Irvine, his surgeon, in endeavoring 
to repair the bridge. At this moment Armstrong and Mc- 
Cauley, perceiving what was before them, and cut off from 
retreat by the broken bridge, with a presence of mind which 
belongs exclusively to consummate bravery, dashed through 
the flying soldiers on the causeway, and, wheeling into the 
woods on their left, escaped by heading up the stream. 

From whatever cause or motive, it is quite certain that 
Lee did not on this occasion act with his usual decision 
and vigor. Sumter reported that if the whole party had 
charged across the bridge they would have come upon the 
enemy in such confusion, while extricating themselves from 
the lane, that they must have laid down their arms.^ It 
was Lee's delay, caused by his returning to the captured 
party upon Campbell's attempt to retake their arms, and the 
consequent hesitation of Armstrong when finding himself 
in a position which he knew his commander had not con- 
templated, that allowed Coates the opportunity of loosening 
the planks on the bridge. And even then, it was considered 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 390. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 171-172 ; Sumter's letter to Greene, 
22d of July, 1881, Nightingale Collection, Tear Book, City of Charleston, 
Appendix, 46. 



336 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

that with more energy he might have rescued his brave 
men from their dangerous position. It is due, however, to 
him to give the reasons he assigned for his failure to do so. 
He stated that the dragoons who dismounted for the pur- 
pose of replacing the planks could not, even though cling- 
ing to the studs of the bridge, keep from sinking, there 
being no foothold to stand upon ; nor was it possible to find 
any firm spot from whence to swim the horses across. ^ 
This is very plausible to all who are familiar with the 
swamps of this region. But Lee's vindication of himself 
in this particular would be accepted the more readil}^ and 
cordially were it not that, though Sumter was present and 
directing the movements of his troops in the action which 
followed, in the account which he has given of it, he ignores 
that officer's presence and represents himself as directing 
the movements of Marion as well as his own. 

Colonel Coates, leaving the bridge in an impassable con- 
dition, retired to the adjoining plantation of Captain Shu- 
brick, and, not daring to trust himself to the open country 
in the face of such an active cavalry, took cover under the 
shelter of the buildings, which afforded him many advan- 
tages. These were situated on a rising ground ; the dwell- 
ing-house was of two stories, and contiguous to it a number 
of outhouses and rail fences, affording security from the 
cavalry and a covering from the marksmen of the enemy. 

As the Americans had now to make a considerable cir- 
cuit to approach the house in consequence of the destruc- 
tion of the bridge, it was three o'clock p.m. before General 
Sumter's force arrived on the ground. He found the enemy 
drawn up in a square in front of the house and prepared to 
receive him. As he had few bayonets it would have been 
folly to have made a direct attack, and the precedent of 
King's Mountain furnished him with his order of battle. 
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 39L 



IN THE REVOLUTION 337 

His own brigade, under Colonels Mydelton, Polk, Taylor, 
and Lacey, advanced in front under shelter of a line of 
negro houses, which they were ordered to reach and occupy. 
General Marion's brigade, which was very much reduced, 
was thrown into two divisions and ordered to advance on 
the right of the enemy, where there was no shelter but 
fences, and those within forty or fifty yards of their position. 
The cavalry not being able to act, was stationed in a secure 
position remote from the scene of action, but near enough 
to cover the infantry from pursuit. The attack was made 
against the opinion of Marion,^ and though Lee by his own 
account was present late in the evening, he took no part in 
the affair.2 

Notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances, Sum- 
ter would not forego the attempt. It was four o'clock 
when the parties reached their respective positions and 
the signal was given to advance. With the utmost 
alacrity they moved to the attack. Sumter's brigade soon 
gained the negro houses in their front, and from these 
directed their rifles with certain effect. Colonel Thomas 
Taylor, with about forty-five men of his regiment pressed for- 
ward to the fences on the enemy's left, and delivered a fire 
which drew upon him a charge of tlie British bayonet, 
before which he retreated. 

Marion's men, says Johnson, were resolved not to be idle 
spectators, and, seeing the danger of Taylor's party, with a 
firmness of veteran troops, rushed through a galling fire up 
to the fences on their right and extricated Taylor ; and, not- 
withstanding that the open railing afforded but a slender pro- 
tection, continued to fire from this slight cover as long as 
a charge of ammunition remained in the corps. The brunt 
of the battle fell upon Marion's party, and they maintained 

1 James's Life of Marion, 126. 

2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 392. 

VOL. IV. Z 



338 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to the last the reputation they had acquired in many a rude 
conflict. Most who fell in the action were of Marion's 
command. Among these Captain Perry and Lieutenant 
Jones were killed, and Lieutenant-Colonel John Baxter, 
who was very conspicuous from his gigantic size and full 
uniform, received five wounds. Major Swinton was also 
severely wounded.^ When their ammunition was expended 
these brave men were drawn off in perfect order. Very 
early in the action the enemy retired into the house and 
within a picketed garden, from the windows and fence of 
which the action was maintained. 

The sun was down when the assailants were withdrawn, 
and this at this season of the year would make the combat 
at Shubrick's farm to have lasted three hours. Is is, says 
Johnson, confidently asserted that not a man left the 
ground while there remained to him a charge of ammuni- 
tion ; all were ready to return to it if supplied ; but there 
was none; unfortunately that captured at Dorchester by 
Lee had been forwarded directly to Greene's headquarters. 
Still Sumter had hope. The artillery had been ordered 
up, and it was possible that Captain Singleton had with 
him some spare powder. Pewter balls, Sumter reported, 
could have been made in plenty. The army was drawn 
across Quinby bridge, which had been repaired during the 
action, and encamped at the distance of three miles, leaving 
the cavalry to watch and control the movements of the 
enemy, and intending to renew the combat in the morning. 

But, says the author from whom we have so much 
quoted and who has given the only full account of this 
unfortunate affair, the demon of discord was now working 
the ruin of the expedition. ^ When the parties who had 
been engaged met and compared their losses and the cir- 

1 James's Life of Marion, 126. 

3 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II. 173. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 339 

cumstances under which they fought, it was suggested to 
Marion's men that they had been exposed, whilst Sumter's 
own, with the exception of Colonel Taylor's command, had 
been spared, and the idea furnished, it was said, a suflBcient 
pretext for disgust and retiring. Many of them moved off 
in the night ; the infection was communicated to Sumter's 
men ; and to complete the catastrophe, in the morning 
early Colonel Lee with his Legion took up the line of 
march for headquarters without consulting the wishes of 
the commanding general.^ 

It is difficult to understand Colonel Lee's account of this 
affair. He states that Marion, under his direction or sug- 
gestion, pressed his march, and having united with him, Lee, 
late in the evening, in front of the house, and seeing that 
no point of Coates's position was assailable with probable 
hope of success, reluctantly gave up the attempt. ^ Besides 
ignoring Sumter's presence altogether, ignoring an action 
that had lasted for hours before he took part in it, he repre- 
sents Marion as only coming on the field late in the even- 
ing with him, and retiring without firing a gun, while 
in fact Marion had been fighting all the afternoon and had 
lost heavily. The most charitable view which can be taken 
of such misstatement is that suggested by Johnson, that 
his recollection had failed him.^ The expedition terrai- 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 173. 

2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 391-392. 

3 Mr. Henry Lee, in his work in defence of his father's conduct in 
answers to Judge Johnson's strictures, admits that Lee's account of these 
affairs is not accurate. " However," lie says, " it must be allowed that 
this branch of his narrative is defective." — Campaigns in the Carolinas 
(Lee), 433. In General Robert E. Lee's edition of his father's Memoirs, 
he puts a note, " The author forgot to relate that after his retreat from 
this position of Coates's it was attacked by Sumter and Marion with con- 
siderable spirit and some loss, but without success, in consequence chiefly 
of wSumter's failure to bring up his artillery." — Memoirs of the War of 
1776 (Lee), 393. 



340 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

nated in still widening the breacli which already existed 
between the distinguished officers engaged in it. Sumter 
directly charges Lee with having failed in everything he 
undertook during its course, a charge which the facts go 
far to sustain. 

The numbers engaged in the battle have never been ac- 
curately ascertained. The British returns of commissary 
issues found in the baggage train gave 900 rations and for- 
age for 250 horses. Estimating for the cavalry at 150, 
there could not, says Johnson, have been less than 500 or 
600 infantry. This is probably a correct estimate. The 
regiment was no doubt a full one, as it had recently arrived 
from Europe ; but the two flank companies, it must be recol- 
lected, were with Lord Rawdon, so that but eight remained 
.Hth Colonel Coates. Allowing for the ordinary deductions 
of details and sick, between 500 and 600 would probably be 
the strength of the regiment under Coates. On the other 
side, Sumter, having all his own brigade, with the exception 
of Henry Hampton's regiment, and all of Marion's, it would 
be supposed that he must. have had more than that number. 
He appears to have had five regiments of his own, Myd- 
elton's, Polk's, Taylor's, Lacey's, and Wade Hampton's, 
and Marion to have had four, Horry's, Maham's, Swinton's, 
and Baxter's ; but these regiments, as they were called, 
were not usually even good-sized companies. If we take 
Colonel Taylor's as the average, 45, he had little over 450 
exclusive of Lee's Legion, 150 strong. And, indeed, no 
doubt overestimating the British force, Sumter asserts that 
their infantry alone was superior to his whole force ; and 
that he attacked them with half of their number. From 
these insufficient data it is perliaps safe to conclude that 
in the fight at Shubrick's house there was no great disparity 
in the forces engaged. We may assume that, on the morn- 
ing of this day, British and American forces numbered 



IN THE REVOLUTIOiSr 341 

each about 600 or 700 men. The losses on the American 
side fell upon Lee's Legion, Maham's regiment at the bridge, 
and upon Marion's infantry and Ta^dor's regiment at the 
liouse. Marion's and Taylor's men together lost more than 
50 killed and wounded.^ Two of Lee's Legion were killed 
at the bridge and several wounded.^ The American loss was 
therefore probably at least 60 killed and wounded. Sumter, 
however, reported but 38 killed and wounded. ^ In the ac- 
count of this battle published in The Royal Grazette " by au- 
thority," the British loss is admitted to have been 6 men 
killed, with an officer and 38 wounded. No mention is made 
of the loss of their rear guard, which numbered 100 men.* 

If these figures are at all correct, it is a mistake to say, as 
does Johnson, that even after the departure of a part of his 
troops and the retirement of the Legion, Sumter still had 
a sufficient number to have held the enemy in a state of 
investment whilst he tried the effect of his artillery. Could 
he have induced Coates to come out and meet him in tlie 
field, he might well have counted upon a favorable re.ralt ; 
but he was in no position for an investment. He was, as 
Johnson admits, but twenty miles from Charlestown, at a 
place accessible by tide-water. Lord Rawdon was known 
to be moving down in force from Orangeburgh, and 
he himself fifteen miles below Monck's Corner, which is 
but sixteen miles from Goose Creek, where Lord Rawdon's 
force might already have arrived. There being, therefore, 
serious grounds for apprehending disaster, General Sumter 
resolved to retreat across the Santee.^ 

1 James's Life of Marion, 125. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 173. Lee gives no numbers. 

8 Letter to Greene, 25th of July, 1781, in Nightingale Collection, Year 
Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 48. 

* Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 170. 

5 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 175 ; Sumter's letters. Nightingale 
Collection, Yvar Book, City of Charleston, ISDO, Appendix, 49. 



342 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The failure of this part of the expedition was doubtless 
primarily attributable to the withdrawal of Horry and 
Maham from Wadboo bridge without destroying it. It is 
said their failure to do so was owing to the appearance of 
Coates in force, whom they could not withstand. But this 
does not explain why it was not destroyed before. Sumter 
had despatched Maham, a bold and enterprising officer, to 
effect this before he began his advance, and yet it was not 
attempted until Horry's arrival. The next cause was Lee's 
delay in securing the prisoners taken on the road, under 
the mistaken belief that the bridge was at least a mile 
distant. Nor is it explained why the artillery was not 
brought into action. Then there was the want of coopera- 
tion, not to say insubordination, of Lee ; and lastly, the 
jealousy between Sumter anu ?tlarion, which had unfortu- 
nately extended to their men. It is doubtful, however, in 
view of the whole situation, whether, under any circum- 
stances, Sumter could have risked a further delay so near 
the British lines, when once his first attack had failed. 

Yet, though the principal object was not attained, observes 
Johnson, considerable benefits resulted from the expedition : 
the British interest was materially shaken, their party 
alarmed and humbled ; the spirit of the Whigs raised ; and 
the fact was announced to the world that the country was 
not conquered. Nor was it without serious injury to the 
enemy in actual loss : 150 prisoners were taken and 9 
commissioned officers killed or wounded, besides the loss 
at Quinby, where one officer and 38 privates had been 
wounded and 6 privates killed. Stores to a large amount 
as well in the church as in four schooners that were cap- 
tured were destroyed; horses, wagons, and stores to a 
respectable amount were captured and carried off. 

Among the latter was a prize remarkable for its extreme 
rarity in the American army. This was the sum of 720 



IN THE REVOLUTION 343 

guineas in the paymaster's chest taken with the baggage 
at Quinby's bridge. Sumter that evening divided it among 
the soldiers, and so much hard money had perhaps never 
before been in possession of the army at one time. Had 
the general been more politic than liberal, the detention of 
it a day or two, continues the same author, might have 
prevented the departure of some who left him who were 
the better able and the more desirous to leave him after 
the receipt of the glittering guinea which fell to the share 
of each soldier. 

Sumter recrossed the Santee and took post as directed 
by Greene, near Friday's Ferry, opposite Granby, leaving 
Marion to take charge of the country on the Santee. 
Marion took post at Cordes and afterwards at Peyre's plan- 
tation, near where the Santee canal afterwards opened into 
that river. 

Thus ended the campaign which General Greene rather 
followed than led, from his return to South Carolina in 
April. He established a camp in the salubrious and delight- 
ful region of the High Hills of Santee on a plain at that 
time known as James Oldfield's, afterwards the plantation 
of Colonel John Singleton. There he went into repose 
during the extreme heat of the season, while Sumter and 
Marion watched below. 



CHAPTER XV 

1781 

There had been no exchange of prisoners, except in a 
very few special cases, in tlie Soutliurn Department, since 
the commencement of the war. Tlie hirge number taken 
by the British at Charlestown and Camden in 1780 had 
rendered them indifferent in the matter — if indeed it 
was not against their policy to enter into any agreement 
looking to the release of the Continental officers and 
soldiers they held in Christ Church Parish and on the 
prison ships, as well as the distinguished exiles in 
Florida. 

The prisoners taken upon the capitulation of Charles- 
town, civil and military, were treated at first with no great 
severity ; but as the war went on and others fell into the 
hands of the British, the treatment of all became harsh, 
and often cruel and infamous. It has been seen that 
many of the prominent citizens were exiled to St. 
Augustine. By the terms of the capitulation of Charlestown 
the Continental troops and sailors were to be conducted to 
a place to be agreed upon, where they were to remain 
prisoners until exchanged, and to be supplied with good 
wholesome provisions in such quantity as served out to 
the troops of his Britannic Majesty. In pursuance of this, 
contiguous buildings in the town were appropriated for 
the private soldiers, and the officers of the army and navy 
were sent to the barracks at Haddrell's Point in Christ 

344 



IN THE REVOLUTION 345 

Church Parish, just opposite the town. And as the bar- 
racks there were not sufficient for the number, 274, some 
of the officers obtained lodgings in the houses, and some 
built huts within the limits of their paroles, six miles from 
the point. General Moultrie and Colonel C. C. Pinckney 
were in excellent quarters at Colonel Charles Pinckney's 
place, called Snee Farm. In a very little time all were 
comfortably settled with little gardens about them. At 
first General Patterson, the commandant, seemed inclined 
to treat the prisoners with courtesy and leniency — espe- 
cially General Moultrie, whom he put in personal charge 
of all his co-prisoners. Nor can it be denied that these 
were a troublesome set to deal with. Moultrie states 
that they were ungovernable, which was not to be won- 
dered at, when more than two hundred men from differ- 
ent States, of different dispositions, some of them very 
uncouth gentlemen, as it was said, were huddled up 
together in idleness in barracks. He adds that it was not 
surprising that there should be continued disputes and 
frequent duels. General Mcintosh, who was the senior 
officer, complained to Moultrie of the disorderly conduct 
of some of those quartered with him in the barracks; 
whereupon Moultrie wrote to him to inform them that 
he considered himself authorized, notwithstanding they 
were all prisoners of war, to order court-martial upon any 
who should misbehave, and to forward the sentences with 
his approval or disapproval to Congress ; that in this the 
British commandant agreed with him, and would send a 
flag to Congress for this purpose. At first four officers 
from each State line were allowed to remain in town to 
superintend and look after the sick and wounded of their 
respective commands ; but the privilege was withdrawn, 
as it was alleged, because of the escape of Justice 
Pendleton, but probably from some other motive. 



346 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Judge Pendleton's case was this.^ He was informed of 
a plot of a party of Tories to take him from his quarter, 
at night, and liang him at the town gate, for what cause 
is not told. Upon this information he counterfeited Major 
Benson's, the brigade major's, handwriting, and made out 
a pass by which he escaped. Upon this Lord Cornwallis 
sent for Moultrie and required him to order Pendleton 
back, or that the prisoners at Haddrell's Point would 
suffer for it. The general promptly replied that he was 
not responsible for any man's parole but his own ; espe- 
cially for that of a civilian over whom he had no control. 
Cornwallis, however, insisted that he had the right to 
discriminate, and to place some one in confinement in 
Judge Pendleton's place. Whereupon General Moultrie 
undertook to write to Congress and lay the matter before 
that body, which he did. Lord Cornwallis forwarding the 
letter to its destination. 

The next cause of complaint was the hilarious celebra- 
tion of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July 
by the officers in the barracks, for which Moultrie was 
again called upon to answer. Tliis he did with great 
firmness and dignity. After giving an account of the 
affair, and regretting to find that some pistols had been 
fired, he replied that it was by no means inconsistent with 
their paroles to have celebrated the day. " I go no farther 
back than the present war," he wrote ; " the British troops 
have given us several precedents of it ; the Seventh Regi- 
ment, now in Charlestown, celebrated the anniversary of 
St. George's Day, when prisoners at Carlisle ; and tlie 

1 Henry Pendleton, a Virginian, who came to South Carolina and was 
a member of the bar in 1771. — See Hist, of So. Ca. under Roy. (rov. 
(McCrady), 481. He was elected a jiidge under the constitution of 1776, 
with Chief Justice William Henry Drayton, John Mathews, and Thomas 
Bee. He had been captured at the taking of Charlestown. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 347 

convention troops [i.e. Burgoyne's army] kept the birthday 
of his Britannic Majesty both in the year '78 and '79, with- 
out the harsh animadversion of ' indecent abuse of lenity ' 
and 'gross outrage.' " The result was, however, an order 
requiring the officers to deliver up all their firearms, and a 
general curtailment of their privileges, which, it must be 
admitted, had up to this time been very considerable. 

Upon seeing, in the paper of the 29th of August, 1780, 
an account of the arrest of the citizens, who were soon 
after sent to St. Augustine, General Moultrie promptly 
protested against it, and asked leave to send an officer to 
Congress to represent this grievance. But to this Balfour's 
reply was : " The commandant will not return any answer 
to a letter wrote in such exceptionable and unwarrantable 
terms as that to him from General Moultrie dated the 1st 
instant. Nor will he receive any further application from 
him upon the subject of it." ^ But General Moultrie was 
not to be silenced in the face of wrong, even though he 
was in the power of those to whom he wrote. When 
Camden and Fishing Creek multiplied the number of 
prisoners, and there was no more room for them in the 
barracks and contiguous buildings in the town, the Conti- 
nental soldiers who had been taken in Charlestown, and 
whose treatment had been expressly stipulated for in the 
terms of capitulation, were removed from the quarters pro- 
vided under the terms of surrender, and were crowded on 
board the prison ships in such numbers that some could 
not find room even to lie down. The newly taken prison- 
ers shared the same fate. Against this violation of the 
terms of the capitulation ]\Ioultrie fearlessly and indig- 
nantly protested. To Colonel Balfour, the commandant 
since the removal of General Patterson, he wrote, on the 
16th of October, 1780 : — 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 138-139. 



348 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

" Sir : However my letter may be thought by you ' to be wrote 
in exceptionable and unwarrantable terms,' yet I cannot be deterred 
from representing matters of such consequence as I am now con- 
strained to do in the strongest manner. Though it is indifferent to 
me whether I write to you or to the commissary of prisoners on 
trifling applications, yet when my duty calls upon me loudly to 
remonstrate against a proceeding of so high a nature as a violation 
of a solemn capitulation, I then think it necessary to make my appli- 
cation as near the fountain head as possible. I therefore, sir, address 
myself to you to complain of a great breach of the capitulation in 
sending the Continental soldiers on board prison ships (the truth of 
which I have not the least doubt of), as part of the agreement for 
which the town was delivered up to Sir Henry Clinton was that the 
Continental soldiers should be kept in some contiguous building in 
the town, as appears by the following extract from their Excellencies, 
Sir Hem-y Clinton and Admiral Ai-buthnot's letter of the 12th of May, 
1780, antecedent to the surrender: — 

" ' Sir : We have to request that you will propose some proper 
contiguous building in the town for the residence of the private 
soldiers, prisoners of war not to be on i^arole. These will be, of 
course, such as may in discretion be asked.' 

" The bari'acks and some adjacent houses were then proposed and 
agreed upon ; as a proof of which the soldiers have been confined in 
those buildings from the very instant of the surrender till this pres- 
ent removal, which I do most solemnly protest against, and complain 
to you, sir, of a direct violation of the third article of capitulation, 
and demand that the Continental soldiers be ordered back to the bar- 
racks and other houses in which they were first confined." 

This was no doubt true ; the tliird article of capitulation 
had expressly provided that the Continental troops and 
sailors with their baggage should be conducted to a place 
to he agreed on, where they shall remain prisoners of roar 
until exchanged. But Balfour did not deign to discuss the 
matter. He curtly replied, "That he would do as he 
pleased with the prisoners for the good of his Majesty's 
service, and not as General Moultrie pleases." ^ 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 142; Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca.^ 
vol. II, 257, 258. 



IN THE IlEV^OLUTION 349 

" After the defeat of General Gates," says Doctor Peter 
Fayssoux, the Continental surgeon left in charge of the 
American prisoners,^ " our sufferings commenced. The 
British appeared to have adopted a different mode of con- 
duct towards their prisoners, and proceeded from one step 
to another until the}' fully displayed themselves void of 
faith, honor, or humanity, and capable of the most savage 
acts of barbarity. 

"The unhappy men who belonged to the militia and 
were taken prisoners on Gates's defeat, experienced the 
first effects of the cruelty of the new system. These 
men were confined on board prison ships in numbers by no 
means proportioned to the size of the vessels, immediately 
after a march of 120 miles in the most sickly season of this 
unhealthy climate. 

" These vessels were in general infected with small-pox ; 
very few of the prisoners had gone through that disorder. 
A representation was made to the British commandant of 
their situation, and permission was obtained for one of our 
sursfeons to inoculate them — this was the utmost extrem- 
ity of their humanity. The wretched objects were still 
confined on board of the prison ships and fed on salt pro- 
visions without the least medical aid, or any kind of 
proper nourishment. The effect that naturally followed 
was a small-pox with a fever of the putrid type, and to 
such as survived the small-pox a putrid dysentery, and 
from these causes the deaths of at least 150 of the unhappy 
victims. Such were the appearances and such was the 
generality of the cases brought to the general hospital 
after the eruption of the small-pox ; before the eruption 
not a single individual was suffered to be brought on 
shore." 

Upwards of 800 of these prisoners, nearly one-third 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 117, 121. 



350 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLIISA 

of the whole, exhausted by a variety of suffering, expired 
in the short space of thirteen months' captivity. When 
the general exchange took place in June, 1781, out of 
1900,1 there were only 740 restored to the service of their 
country. But it was not by death alone, says Ramsay, 
that the Americans were deprived of their soldiers. Lord 
Charles Greville Montagu, the former Governor of South 
Carolina, who, after leaving the province in 1773, had fre- 
quently declared himself warmly attached to the liberties 
of America, and had actually, it was said, offered his 
services to Dr. Franklin in Paris to take a command in the 
army of Congress, failing to find employment on this side 
of the contest, had entered the service on the other and 
obtained leave to raise a regiment from among the rebels 
taken prisoners.^ He arrived in Charlestown after the 
capitulation, and applied himself to the task of inducing 
the Continental soldiers to desert the cause in which the}' 
were enlisted, and to join his regiment. Indeed, it is be- 
lieved that this was one of the objects in view which in- 
duced the vigorous treatment of the prisoners, in violation 
of the terms of capitulation. His lordship succeeded in 
enlisting 530 of them in the British service.^ His return 

1 Eamsay's Hist, of the Bevolution in So. Ca. , vol. II, 288. This is 
Ramsay's statement ; but which troops constituted the 1900 of which he 
speaks we do not know. The Continental troops surrendered at Cliarles- 
town on the 12th of May, 1780, numbered 2650. — Hist, of So. Ca. in the 
Bevolution (McCrady), 507. 

2 Lord Charles Greville Montagu, son of Robert, third Duke of Man- 
chester, Governor of South Carolina from 1766 to 1773. — Hist, of So. Ca. 
under Roy. Gov. (McCrady), 587 et seq. Appointed captain of the 
Eighty-eighth Foot 12th of December, 1780 ; major in the army 12lh of 
June, 1782. — Clinton- CornioaUis Controversy, vol. II, Index. 

3 These recruits for the Brit ish army from the American prisoners were 
from the Continental line ; and, considering the character of the men of 
the rank and file of that body, in which were forced, by way of punish- 
ment, all men convicted of being idle, lewd, disorderly, or sturdy beggars, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 351 

to South Carolina seems really to have been more with 
the purpose of seducing the upholders of the American 
cause from their allegiance to it than any military service 
of his own in the field, for not only did he use the dis- 
tressed condition of the Continental soldiers to induce 
them to accept his offer in preference to the horrors of a 
prison ship by the specious promise that they should be em- 
ployed in the West Indies and not against their country- 
men in the United States, but he aimed higher, — to seduce 
even the noble Moultrie himself from the cause of his coun- 
try. The first attempt in this direction was made by 
Colonel Balfour upon General Moultrie's son. On the 
14th of January, 1781, this officer wrote as follows: — 

"Mr. Moultrie, your father's character and your own have been 
represented to me iu such a light that I wish to serve you both ; what 
I have to say I will sura up in a few words. I wish you to propose to 
your father to relinquish the cause he is now engaged in, which he 
may do without the least dishonor to himself ; he can only enclose his 
commission to the first general officer (General Greene, for instance) ; 
the command will devolve on the next officer, which is often done in 
our service ; any officer may resign his commission in the field if he 
chooses ; if your father will do this he may rely on me he shall have 
his estate restored to him, and all damages paid him ; I believe you 
are the only heir to your father. As for you, sir, if your father con- 
tinues firm I shall never ask you to bear arms against him. These 
favors you may depend I shall be able to obtain from my Lord Corn- 
wallis, and you may rely on my honor this matter shall never be di- 
vulged by me." 

Mr. Moultrie refused to make any such proposal to his 
father.i Thereupon Lord Charles Montagu himself under- 
took the matter, and thus addressed Moultrie under the 

— see Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevohition (McCrady), 299, 300, 301, 302- 
309, — it is not surprising to find them willing to exchange service from 
Congress to the King, or vice versa, as indeed did many of those who re- 
mained, without the excuse which these could plead. 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 149, 150. 



352 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

guise of disinterested friendship. On the 11th of March, 
1781, he wrote :i — 

" Sir : A sincere wish to promote what may be to your advantage 
induces me now to write. Tlie freedom with which we have often 
conversed makes me hope you will not take amiss what I say. 

" My own principles respecting the commencement of this unfortu- 
nate war are well known to you, and of course you can conceive 
what I mention is out of friendship : you have now fought bravely 
in the cause of your country for many years, and in my opinion ful- 
filled the duty every individual owes to it : you have had your share 
of hardships and difficulties ; and if the contest is still to be continued, 
younger hands should now take the toil from you. You have now a 
fair opening of quitting that service with honour and reputation to 
yourself by going to Jamaica with me. The world will readUy attrib- 
ute it to the known friendship that has subsisted between us, and, 
by quitting this country for a short time, you would avoid any disa- 
greeable conversations, and might return at leisure to take possession 
of your estates for yourself and family. The regiment I am going 
to command, the only proof I can give you of my sincerity is, that I 
-will quit that command to you with pleasvire and serve under you. 
I earnestly wish I could be the instrument to effect what I propose, 
as I think it would be a great means towards promoting that recon- 
ciliation we all wish for. A thousand circumstances concur to make 
this a proper period for you to embrace : our old acquaintance : my 
having formerly been governor in the province : etc., etc., the interest 
I have with the present commander. 

" I give you my honour what I write is entirely unknown to the 
commandant, or to any one else, and so shall your answer be if you 
favour me with one. Think well of me. 

" Yours sincerely, 

" Ch : Montagu." 

No further comment need be made to this letter than 
that contained in the temperate but admirable reply of 
General Moultrie. He wrote : ^ — 

"My Lord : I received yours this morning by Fisher ; I thank you 
for your wish to promote my advantage, but am surprised at your 
proposition ; I flattered myself I stood in a more favourable light with 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 166. 2 /jj,-^^.^ igg. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 353 

you : I shall write with the same fi-eedotn with which we used to con- 
verse, and doubt not, you will receive it with the same candour : I 
have often heard you express your sentiments respecting this unfor- 
tunate war, when you thought the Americans injured; but am now 
astonished to find you taking an active part against them ; though 
not fighting particularly on the continent ; yet seducing their soldiers 
away, to enlist in the British service, is nearly similar. 

" My Lord, you are pleased to compliment me with having fought 
bravely in my country's cause for many years, and in your opinion, 
fulfilled the duty every individual owes to it ; but I differ widely with 
you, in thinking that I have discharged my duty to my country while 
it is still deluged with blood and overrun by the British troops, who 
exercise the most savage cruelties. When I entered into this contest 
I did it with the most matured deliberation, and with a determined 
resolution to risk my life and fortune in the cause. The hardships I 
have gone through I look back upon with the greatest pleasure and 
honour to myself : I shall continue to go on as I have begun, that my 
example may encourage the youths of America to stand forth in the 
defence of their rights and liberties. You call upon me now, and tell 
me I have a fair opening of quitting that sei'vice with honour and 
reputation to myself by going with you to Jamaica. Good God 1 Is 
it possible that such an idea could arise in the breast of a man of 
honour. I am sorry you should imagine I have so little regard for 
my own reputation as to listen to such dishonourable proposals. Would 
you wish to have that man, whom you have honoured with your friend- 
ship to play the traitor ? Surely not. You say by quitting this country 
for a short time I might avoid disagreeable conversations, and might 
return at my own leisure and take possession of my estate for myself 
and family ; but you have forgot to tell me how I am to get rid of 
the feelings of an injured honest heart, and where to hide myself from 
myself. Could I be guilty of so much baseness I should hate myself 
and shun mankind. 

" This would be a fatal exchange from my present situation, with an 
easy and approving conscience of having done my duty and conducted 
myself as a man of honour. 

"My Lord, I am sorry to observe, that I feel your friendship much 
abated or you would not endeavour to prevail upon me to act so base a 
part. You earnestly wish you could bring it about, as you think it will 
be the means of bringing about that reconciliation we all wish for. I 
wish for a reconciliation as much as any man, but only upon honourable 

VOL. IV. — 2 a 



354 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

terms. The repossessing of my estate, the offer of the command of 
your regiment, and the honour yoii propose of serving under me, are 
paltry considerations in the loss of my reputation. No. Not the fee 
simple of that valuable Island Jamaica should induce me to part 
vi'ith my integrity. 

" My Lord, as you have made one proposal, give me leave to make 
another, which will be more honourable to us both. As you have an 
interest with your command I would have you propose the withdrawing 
of the British troops from the continent of America, allow the inde- 
pendence, and propose a peace. This being done I will use my interest 
with my commander to accept the terms, and allow Great Britain a 
free ti-ade with America. 

"My Lord, I could make one more proposal, but my situation as a 
prisoner circumscribes me within certain bounds ; I must, therefore, 
conclude with allowing you the free liberty to make what use of this 
you may think proper. Think better of me. 

" I am, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient, humble servant, 

" William Moultrie." ^ 

Failing thus to seduce the chief of the imprisoned offi- 
cers, another course was now adopted to compel their 
submission. Under the flimsy pretext that Lieutenant- 
Colonel Grimkd and Major Habersham had been corre- 
sponding with the enemy, because they had written letters 
to an adherent of the American cause in Beaufort, — within 
the British lines, — there being nothing improper in the let- 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 166-171 ; Ramsay's Bevolution in So. 
Ca., vol. II, 289-294 ; Garden's A7iec(lotes, 13-16. 

Mrs. Ravenel, in her Eliza Pinckney, 296-297, states that similar ad- 
vances were made both to Major Thomas Pinckney and to Colonel Charles 
Cotesworth Pinckney, both of whom were prisoners. Family legend pre- 
serves a few of the answers of the latter to such overtures. To one Colo- 
nel Pinckney wrote : " I entered into this cause after reflection and through 
principle ; my heart is altogether American, and neither severity no avour 
nor poverty nor affluence can ever induce me to swerve from it." To 
another he answered: "The freedom and independence of my country 
are the Gods of my Idolatry. I mean to rejoin the American army as 
soon after my exchange as I possibly can. I will exert my abilities to 
the utmost in the cause I am engaged in, and to obtain success will at- 
tempt every measure that is not cruel or dishonourable." 



IN THE REVOLUTION 355 

ters themselves, these officers were placed in close confine- 
ment until the pleasure of Lord Cornwallis, who was then in 
North Carolina fighting Greene, should be known. In com- 
municating the imprisonment of these officers to General 
Moultrie, Colonel Balfour also took occasion to add : ^ — 

" I am now to address you on a subject with which 1 am charged by 
Lord Cornwallis, who, having in vain applied to General Greene for 
an equitable and general exchange of prisoners, finds it necessary, in 
justice to the King's service and those of the army who are in this 
disagreeable predicament, to pursue such measures as may eventually 
coerce it ; and his Lordship has consequently ordered me to send all 
the prisoners of war here forthwith to some of the West India Islands, 
which I am particularly directed to inform you cannot be delayed 
beyond the middle of next month; and for this purpose the trans- 
ports are now allotted, of which an account will soon be transmitted 
to you." 

Colonel Balfour added complaints against the treatment 
of British prisoners by Marion. 

Moultrie replied with his usual spirit. He declined to 
discuss the matter of the treatment of Colonel Grimke 
and Major Habersham, as he was himself a prisoner, and 
must leave that to those who were more at liberty. He 
addressed himself with vigor to the subject of the transpor- 
tation of the Continental officers.^ 

" The subject of your next clause," he wrote, " is of a very serious 
nature and weighty consequences indeed. Before I enter particularly 
into that, I must request you will be so kind as to inform me whether 
you deem the capitulation dissolved ? You tell me Lord Cornwallis 
has frequently applied to General Greene for an equitable exchange 
of prisoners. I can also assure you that General Greene, in a letter to 
General Mcintosh, mentions that he proposed such a measure to Lord 
Cornwallis ; and I can assure you that by a letter from a delegate in 
Congress we are warranted to-day that Congress has proposed a plan for 
a general exchange, which Sir Henry Clinton approved, and signified 
to General Washington his readiness to proceed on it, and for ought 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 171. « ji^i^^^ 173. 



356 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

we know is at this moment taking place. However, the sending of us 
to the West Indies cannot expedite the exchange one moment; neither 
can the measure alleviate the distresses of those of your othcers who 
are prisoners, as you must be well assured such treatment as we receive 
will be fully retaliated by General Washington." 

This remonstrance met with no respect further than that 
General Moultrie was allowed to send copies of Balfour's 
notice and of his reply to General Greene. Preparations 
for the transportation continued through the month of 
April. On the 2d of May Moultrie was informed " that the 
Continental and militia officers were, at the particular re- 
quest of General Greene, to be sent to Long Island instead 
of the West Indies, as had been threatened." ^ The day 
after this, however — that is, on the 3d of May, 1781 — 
a cartel for a general exchange of prisoners was agreed to 
at the house of Mr. Claudius Pegues, on the Pee Dee, 
between Captain Cornwallis on the part of Lord Cornwallis, 
and Lieutenant-Colonel Carrington on the part of Major- 
General Greene, and this put an end to the proposed 
removal of these prisoners. 

As soon as Colonel Grimke was released from confine- 
ment he made his way at once from the British lines to the 
American army, and reported himself to General Greene, 
from whom he solicited a court of inquiry upon his con- 
duct. This court was unanimously of opinion that lie had 
not violated his parole in corresponding with one within 
the lines to which he was confined, and that, on the con- 
trary, his arrest having been in violation of the terms of 
his surrender, he was justified in escaping. This ^nding 
was approved by General Greene, who was so strongly im- 
pressed with the justice and propriety of Colonel Grimkd's 
conduct, and further that the conduct of the British had 
absolved the paroled officers, that he readily consented to 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 171, 198. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 357 

let him have a party of troops to bring off all his brother 
officers at Haddrell's Point. To this end General Greene 
gave Colonel Grinikd a letter to Marion, who, also fully 
approving, furnished him with a detachment. With this 
Colonel Grirake proceeded forthwith to Haddrell's Point, 
made a prisoner of the British commissary within sight of 
the town, and took possession of the barracks and all the 
officers. A number of these had proceeded on their way as 
far as the church, five miles from the barracks, near Snee 
Farm, where General Moultrie and Colonel Pinckney were 
quartered, where they halted and sent for these officers to 
join them. They, however, refused to do so, not doubting 
the right or propriety of the measure, as they too held that 
the terms of their capitulation had been violated by the 
British, but because they were now soon to be exchanged, 
and thought it best to remain rather than run any risk.^ 

The terms of this cartel included political as well as mili- 
tary prisoners of war. It is well, therefore, at this time 
briefly to relate the treatment of the former, both of those 
remaining at home on their paroles and of those exiled to 
St. Augustine. The citizens of the town who adhered to 
their paroles, rather than renew their allegiance to the king 
and accept protection, were treated with great severity. 
Though they were not allowed the rations of military pris- 
oners, they were debarred from trade and employment, and 
the exercise of any profession of whatever kind to procure 
subsistence. On the 25th of March, 1781, Balfour issued 
the following order : ^ — 

"Whereas, divers persons who are prisoners on parole in Charlestown 
do exercise their professions trades and occupations and avail them- 
selves of their emoluments and advantages incidental thereto which 
should be enjoyed by those only who have returned to their allegiance 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. IT, 200, 201. 

2 The Uoyal Qasette, March 28, 1781. 



358 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and are desirous of supporting his Majesty's government which aifords 
them protection. For prevention whereof in future it is ordered that 
no person now a prisoner on parole in Charlestown shall have the 
liberty of exercising any profession trade niechanick art business or 
occupation. And his Majesty's subjects are hereby strictly enjoined 
not to employ such person or persons on any pretence." 

Upon the application of one thus deprived of the means 
of living, for rations, the valiant officer replied in the fol- 
lowing order : ^ — 

" All difficulties with regard to provisions ought to have been con- 
sidered before the people entered into rebellion or in the course of 
these twelve months, while they have been allowed to walk about on 
parole. All militia officers and others on parole are to keep their 
paroles and remain in their houses." 

But as the sequestration of their property and the dep- 
rivation of their means of support did not quell the spirit 
of these people, resort was again had to the prison ships. On 
the 17th of May, that is, just after the fall of Forts Watson 
and Motte and the post at Orangeburgh, and while Granby 
was besieged, one hundred and thirty militia officers, pris- 
oners on parole in Charlestown, were seized and sent on 
board these ships.^ In justification of this measure Balfour 

1 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 295, 206. 

2 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol, II, 541 ; Gibbes's Documentary 
Hist. (1781-82), 75-76. 

List of Prisoners on Prison Ships 
On Board the Prison Ship Torbay. — William Axon, Samuel Ash, 
George Arthur, John Anthony, Ralph Atmore, John Baddeley, Peter 
Bounetheau, Henry Benbridge, Joseph Ball, Joseph Bee, Nathaniel 
Blundell, James Bricken, Francis Bayle, William Basquin, John Clarke, 
Jr., Thomas Cooke, Norwood Conyers, James Cox, John Dorsus, Joseph 
Diinlap, Rev. James Edmonds, Thomas Elliott, Joseph Elliott, John Evans, 
John Eberley, Joseph Glover, Francis Grott, Mitchell Gargie, William 
Graves, Peter Guerard, Jacob Henry, David Hamilton, Thomas Harris, 
William Hornby, Daniel Jacoby, Charles Kent, Samuel Lockhart, Nathan- 
iel Lebby, Thomas Listor, Thomas Legard, Jolni Lesesne, Henry Lybert, 
John Michael, John Miuott, Sr., John Moncrief, Charles McDonald, John 



IN THE REVOLUTION 359 

addressed the prisoners a communication whicli he required 
Messrs. R.Wells & Son, printers to the King's MostExcellent 
Majesty, to publish in The Royal Gazette, in which, charging 
ill treatment of the prisoners taken by the Americans, and 
declaring it his duty to try how far a more decided line of 
conduct would prevail, and whether the safety of avowed ad- 
herents to their cause might not induce the American troops 
to extend a proper clemency to those whose principles armed 
them in defence of the British government, he wrote : — 

" Induced by these motives I have conceived it an act of expediency 
to seize on your persons and retain them as hostages for the good 
usage of all the loyal militia who are or may be made prisoners of 
war resolving' to regulate in the full extent your treatment by the 
measure of theirs, and which my feelings make me hope may hereafter 
be most lenient. 

" And as I have thought it necessary that those persons who some 
time since were sent from thence to St. Augvistine should in this 
respect be considered in the same point of view as yourselves I shall 
send notice there that they be likewise held as sureties for a future 
propriety of conduct towards our militia prisoners. 

Minott, Jr., Samuel Miller, Stephen Moore, George Monck, Jonathan 
Morgan, Abraham Mariette, Solomon Milner, John Neufville, Jr., Philip 
Prioleau, James Poyas, Job Palmer, Joseph Robinson, Daniel Rhody, 
Joseph Rigbton, "William Snelling, John Stevenson, Jr., Paul Snyder, 
Abraham Seavers, Ripley Singleton, Samuel Skottowe, Stephen Shrews- 
bury, John Saunders, James Toussiger, Paul Taylor, Sims White, James 
Wilkins, Isaac White, George Welch, Benjamin Wheeler, William Wilkie, 
John Welch, Thomas You. 

On Board the Schooner Pack Horse. — John Barnwell, Edward Barn- 
well, Robert Barnwell, William Branford, John Blake, Thomas Cochran, 
Joseph Cray, Robert Dewar, H. W. De Saussure, Thomas Eveleigh, 
John Edwards, Jr., John W. Edwards, William Elliott, Benjamin Gue- 
rard, Thomas Grayson, John Gibbons, Philip Gadsden, John Greaves, 
William H. Hervey, John B. Holmes, William Holmes, Thomas Hughes, 
James Heyward, George Jones, Henry Kennon, John Kean, Stephen Lee, 
Philip Meyer, George Mosse, William Neufville, John Owen, Charles Pinck- 
ney, Jr., Sanmel Smith, William Wigg, Charles Warham, Thomas Waring, 
Sr., Richard Waring, John Waters, David Warham, Richard Yeadon. 



360 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

" Reasons so cogent and which have only the most humane purposes 
for their objects will I doubt not be considered by every reasonable 
person as a sufficient justification of this most necessary measure 
even in those points where it may militate with the capitulation of Charles- 
town, though indeed the daily infractions of it by the breach of paroles 
would alone warrant this procedure." 

Admitting thus that the measure was a violation of the 
terms of their capitulation, he added : — 

" Having been thus candid in stating to you the catises of this con- 
duct I can have no objections to your making any proper use of this 
letter you may judge to your advantage and will therefore should you 
deem it expedient grant what flags of truce may be necessary to carry 
out copies of it to any officer commanding American troops in these 
parts, and in the mean time the fullest directions will be given 
that your j^resent situation be rendered as eligible as the nature of 
the circumstances will admit." 

To this communication Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen 
Moore, of North Carolina, Major John Barnwell, Samuel 
Lockhart, John Baddeley, Benjamin Guerard, and Charles 
Pinckney, Jr., on the 19th addressed the following tem- 
perate and admirable reply : — 

" Sir : Yesterday we transmitted to you a letter enclosing a copy of 
yours, with a list of one hundred and twenty-nine prisoners of war 
confined on boai'd this ship which we hope is forwarded to Major- 
General Greene agreeable to your promise, and make no doubt but 
that your feelings as a gentleman will upon this occasion induce you 
to do everything in your power to liberate from a most injurious and 
disagreeable confinement those against whom there can exist no 
charge of dishonor, and whose only crime if such it can possibly be 
termed by men of liberal ideas is an inflexible attachment to what 
they conceive to be the rights of their country, and who have scorned 
to deceive you by unmeaning professions. 

" In justice to ourselves we must say that if the Americans have at 
any time so far divested themselves of that character for humanity 
and generosity which ever distinguLshed them we feel ourselves most 
sensibly mortified, but are induced from the generous treatment of 
Colonels Lechmere, Rugeley, Fenwicke and Kelsall and their parties 



IN THE KEYOLUTION 361 

and from a number of other instances which might easily be adduced 
to believe that the outrages which you complain of must be the elfect 
of private resentment (subsisting between British subjects and those 
who after having availed themselves of the royal proclamation, have 
resumed their arms in opposition to that government), and totally un- 
sanctioned by any American officer, and which we are well convinced 
they would reprobate and would punish in the most exemplary 
manner could the perpetrators of such horrid acts be detected. 

" In a war circumstanced as the present there will be some instances 
of enormities on both sides. We would not wish to particularize, but 
doubt not there are acts of cruelty frequently committed by the irreg- 
ulars of your army and are convinced that on your part as well as our 
own they are generally to be attributed to an ignorance of the rules of 
warfare, and a want of discipline ; but the idea of detaining in close 
custody as hostages a number of men fairly taken in arms and entitled 
to the benefits of a solemn capitulation is so repugnant to the laws of 
war and the usage of civilized nations that we apprehend it will 
rather be the means of increasing its horrors than answering those 
purposes of humanity you expect. 

" As a most strict adherence to the terms of our paroles and a 
firm reliance on your honor, have been the only reasons of our being 
in your power at present, we trust that upon equitable proposals 
being made for our exchange by General Greene, no objections will 
be raised but every thing done to bring the matter to the most speedy 
issue." 

To General Greene these officers wrote, inclosing a copy 
of Balfour's letter, and saying that should it fall to the lot 
of all or any of them to be made victims agreeable to the 
menaces therein contained, they had only to regret that 
their blood could not be disposed of more to the advance- 
ment of the glorious cause to wliich they had adhered.^ 

The cartel for the exchange of prisoners which had been 
agreed on on the 3d of May was very general in its terms. 
It provided that regular troops should be exchanged for 
regulars, and militia for militia. That men enlisted for six 

1 Ramsay's Bevohition in So. Ca., vol. II, 535 ; Gibbes's Documentary 
Hist. (1781-82), 72-77 ; The Boyal Gazette, May 19, 1781. 



362 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

months and upwards in Continental or State service slioul 1 
be looked upon as regulars. But the practical working of 
the exchange was left to the commissaries of prisoners on 
either side. The first delivery of American prisoners were 
to embark at Charlestown on or before the 15tli of June for 
Jamestown on the James River, where the first delivery of 
British prisoners should embark on or about the first week 
in July, and sail immediately to the nearest British port.^ 
This arrangement was no doubt made for the benefit of the 
Virginia and North Carolina Continental troops, who had 
been imprisoned since the capitulation of Charlestown. 
Upon the execution of the cartel Major Hyrne, the Ameri- 
can commissary of prisoners, proceeded to Charlestown, 
where he met Major Fraser, the British commissaiy. 

One better qualified for the duties of this mission than 
the American commissary could not have been selected. He 
was liberal in all his ideas, and where reason would justify 
concession, willing to yield and conciliate ; but against the 
encroachments of arrogance and injustice, firm as adamant. 

The British, appreciating the great advantage which 
they had in the character and influence of many of the 
individuals within their power, were little disposed to lib- 
erate them, and so to encounter the effect of their return 
to their compatriots. Especially was this the case in re- 
gard to the exiles at St. Augustine, and those in the prison 
ships in the harbor. These latter Major Hyrne was in 
the constant habit of visiting, and at last informed them 
that his efforts to relieve them would, according to appear- 
ances, prove altogether abortive ; and that they must en- 
deavor to support with patience and fortitude the evils 
they were destined to endure. But one hope remains, 
he added, of bringing the business to a happy conclusion, 
and that should be made without delay. 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 198, 200. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 3G3 

The British officers who had been captured by Sumter, 
Marion, and Lee had all been paroled and allowed to re- 
turn to Charlestown. Of these there were a very consid- 
erable number, and they all were enjoying the comforts 
and society of the town; while our officers were confined, 
some to narrow limits at Haddrell's Point, without society, 
and with scarcely the means of support, others to the hor- 
rors of the prison ships, while the civil prisoners were exiles 
far away. Returning to his quarters, Major Ilyrne ad- 
dressed a note to every British officer in the town enjoying 
the benefit of a parole, desiring that preparation should be 
made to accompany him immediately to the American 
camp, as every effort to accomplish an exchange had proved 
fruitless. It could not be expected that liberty should be 
longer granted to them while men of the first character 
and highest respectability in the State were subjected to 
all the miseries and inconveniences of the most rigorous 
confinement. 

The effect of this notice was instantaneously perceptible. 
The doors of the commandant were besieged by petitioners, 
many of high rank and powerful connection, soliciting him 
to relinquish his opinions, and by relaxing in due season 
his severity, save them from the horrors and destruction 
which they deemed inevitable should the}^ be compelled in 
the month of June to remove into the sickly interior coun- 
try. The clamorous and reiterated remonstrances of these 
officers could not be resisted ; the dictates of policy yielded 
before them. The terms of exchange were speedily ad- 
justed.i On the 22d of June Major Hyrne and Major 
Fraser, the commissaries, gave notice that in pursuance of 
power delegated to them to carry into execution the articles 
of cartel made on the 3d of May, they had agreed "that all 

1 Garden's Atiecdotes, 407, 408 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 
200. 



364 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the militia, prisoners of war, citizens of America taken 
by the British arms in the Southern Department from the 
commencement of the present war to the 15th day of this 
present month of June, shall be immediately exchanged for 
all the militia, prisoners of war, subjects of Great Britain 
taken by the American army in the said department within 
the above-mentioned term." i 

There is no allusion, it will be observed, in this agreement 
as to the regulars on either side. These, it is to be supposed, 
were regarded as coming under the general terms of the 
cartel itself. It is further to be observed that the ex- 
change was only provided for those taken prior to the 
15th of June. One cause of delay in the execution of this 
agreement was that the British insisted upon excepting from 
the cartel five individuals, three of whom. Captain Postell, 
Messrs. Smith and Skirving, like Pickens, Hampton, and 
Hayne, had resumed their arms after having been paroled 
and taken protection. Who the others were is not known. 
Postell's case was by the consent of the commissaries 
referred to General Greene, but he does not appear ever 
to have been released.^ 

Notice of the exchange was immediately sent to St. 
Augustine, where it was received on the 7th of July. It 
is time, therefore, to recur to the exiles there, and to 
inquire how they had fared in the ten months of their 
imprisonment at that distant place. 

1 Gibbes's Doc. Hist. (1781-82), 122, 123 ; The Boyal Gazette, June 
29, 1781. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene., vol. II, 201 ; Gibbes's Documentary Hist. 
(1781-82), 128; James's Z(/e of Marion, 113. 



CHAPTER XVI 

1781 

Upon the capitulation of Charlestown in May, 1780, a 
military government had been established by the British. 
A commandant was appointed to superintend the affairs 
of the province. His powers, says Ramsay, were as 
undefined as those of the American committees, which 
took place in the early stages of the dispute between 
Great Britain and America, while the Royal governments 
were suspended and before the popular establishments 
were reduced to system. To soften the rigid and forbid- 
ding aspect of this new mode of administration and as far as 
possible to temper it with the semblance of civil authority, 
a Board of Police for the summary determination of dis- 
putes was instituted. James Simpson, the attorney- 
general at the breaking out of the Revolution, — one 
of those who had refused to sign the Association when 
ordered by the General Committee in July, 1775, and con- 
sequently had been compelled to leave the province, — had 
returned and was put at the head of the board as Inten- 
dant. One of the first measures of this board was the 
preparation of a table ascertaining the depreciation of the 
paper currency at different periods, from which the friends 
of the Royal government who had sustained losses by 
paper payments were induced to hope for reimbursement.^ 

1 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 261, 263 ; Hist, of So. Ca. 
in the Bevolution, 1775-SO (McCrady), 226, 228. 

365 



366 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

This measure, observes the author from whom we quote, 
though just in itself, was productive of unexpected and 
serious consequences, fatal to the reviving fondness for the 
Royal interest. Among the new-made British subjects 
many were found who had been great gainers by the depre- 
ciation of the American bills of credit. These, when a 
second payment of their old debts was proposed, by this 
scheme, were filled with astonishment and dismay. From 
the circumstances of the country a compliance with it was 
to the most opulent extremely inconvenient, and to the 
multitudes absolutely impracticable. The paper currency, 
before the reduction of Charlestown, had supplanted the 
use of gold and silver and banished them from circulation. 
The ravages of war had desolated the country and deprived 
the inhabitants of the means of payment. Creditors 
became clamorous from their long arrears of interest, and 
debtors had either lost their property or could not exchange 
it for one-half of its value. Many suits were brought and 
great numbers ruined. The distresses of the reclaimed 
subjects within the British lines were in man}'- instances 
greater than those of their unsubdued countrymen who 
had forsaken all in the cause of liberty. Then, when the 
Americans had recovered possession of a considerable part 
of the State, it began to be feared that upon their ultimate 
success the proceedings of the board would be reversed. 
This redoubled their difficulties. Creditors became more 
pressing, and at the same time the increasing uncertainty of 
British titles induced a depreciation of real property not far 
behind that of the American paper currency. Fear and inter- 
est, sa3\s Ramsay, had brought many of their new subjects 
to the British standard ; but in consequence of the plans 
they adopted in a little time both these powerful motives of 
human actions drew in an opposite direction. The Ameri- 
cans pursued a different line of conduct. In every period 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 367 

of the contest they sacrificed the few creditors to the 
many debtors. The true Whigs who suffered on this 
score consoled themselves with the idea that their coun- 
try's good required it, and that this was the price of 
independence. A disposition to suffer in behalf of the 
Royal interest was not so visible among the professed 
adherents to British government. That immediate justice 
might be done to a few great distress was brought on 
many, and the cause of his Britannic Majesty injured be- 
yond reparation. 1 

General Patterson, as has appeared, had been the first 
commandant at Charlestown. Upon his removal from the 
province Lieutenant-Colonel Nisbet Balfour, who at first 
had been sent to the command of the District of Ninety 
Six, was recalled to Charlestown and placed in command 
there. Of the character and services of this officer we 
have before spoken.^ Between himself and Lord Rawdon 
there was no good will. He established his headquarters 
in the house of Miles Brewton, the same in which Josiah 
Quincy had been entertained in 1773, as related in a 
former volume ; ^ and there, it was said of him, in the exer- 
cise of his new office, he displayed all the frivolous self- 
importance and insolence which are natural to little minds 
when puffed up by sudden elevation, and employed in 
functions to which their abilities are not equal. By the 
subversion of every form of the popular government, 
which had been set up without any proper civil establish- 
ment in its place, he with a few coadjutors assumed and 
exercised legislative, judicial, and executive powers over 
citizens in the same manner as over the common soldiery 
under their command. A series of proclamations and 

1 Ramsay, supra. 

2 Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevohition (McCrady), 715. 
^ Hist, of So. Ca. under Boy. Gov. (McCrady), 706. 



368 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

orders were issued, not only in violation of the terms of 
capitulation of the city, but as little in accord with the 
principles of the British constitution as of those of justice, 
equity, and humanity. Upon the surrender of the city 
it had been stipulated, it will be remembered, that the 
militia should be regarded as prisoners upon parole, which 
parole, so long as they observed it, should secure them 
from being molested in their proijerty by the British troops. 
The spirit and intent of this stipulation unquestionably was 
that as long as the prisoners observed their paroles they might 
pursue their business and avocations, and be protected in 
so doing in their property. But, presumably, now drawing 
a distinction between one's property and one's calling or 
business, Balfour, as we have seen, now ordered that no 
paroled prisoner should be allowed to work at any trade 
or profession for the support of himself or his family. 
A more iniquitous measure can scarcely be conceived. 
Prisoners on parole confined to the town were thus denied 
the right to make a living in the town, unless they would 
forswear the cause and return to the allegiance of the 
king. For light offences and upon partial and insufficient 
information citizens were arrested and confined without 
trial of any kind. 

The middle part of the cellar under the Exchange — now 
the old post-office in Charleston — was the place chosen for 
the imprisonment of those arrested. It was called the pro- 
vost. The dampness of this unwholesome place, without any 
means of warming its temperature, caused great sickness 
and suffering and some deaths among those confined within 
its walls. It was in this place that the citizens arrested in 
August, 1780, and sent to St. Augustine, were first con- 
fined. Citizens marched from distant parts of the interior 
in irons were thrown into this prison. Among these were 
Colonel Starke, Colonel Beard, Captain Moore, and Mr. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 369 

Pritchard.i So, too, were here confined Major Peter Boc- 
quet, Samuel Legare, Jonathan Sarrazin, Henry Peronneau, 
and Daniel Stevens. Not only men, but women also 
were indiscriminately cast into this place. Among these, 
two young ladies of most excellent character and respect- 
able connections, on a groundless suspicion of giving in- 
telligence to the Americans, were for a short time subjected 
to the same indignity. These were crowded, together with 
the sick laboring under contagious diseases, wit/h negroes, 
deserters, women of infamous character, to the number of 
fifty-six, within narrow limits. So little regard was paid 
to decency that the calls of nature could not be satisfied 
but in the open view of both sexes promiscuously collected 
in one apartment. The American state prisoner and the 
British felon shared the same fate. The former, though 
for the most part charged with nothing more than an 
active execution of the laws of the State, or having spoken 
words disrespectful or injurious to the British officers or 
government, or of corresponding with the Americans, suf- 
fered indignities and distresses in common with those who 
were accused of crimes tending to subvert the peace and 
existence of society. Such was the administration of police 
by Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour. His conduct on the whole 
tended greatly to strengthen the Whig interest and to 
diminish the number of Roj^alists.^ 

Far from subduing the spirit of those whose circum- 

1 Ramsay's Hevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 264. Colonel Robert 
Starke, who liad commanded the lower regiment of militia in the fork of 
Saluda and Broad rivers. (See Hist, of So. Ca. in the Eevolution, 1775-80 
[McCrady], 123.) There were two other Starkes, or Starks, who fought in 
the Revolution under Sumter, Captain John Starke and a lad, Robert 
Starke. Johnson's Traditions, 502, 503. Colonel Jonas Beard, who had 
succeeded Colonel Starke in command of his regiment. James Pritchard 
had been sheriff of Ninety Six District. 

2 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, o()l-302 ; Ilamsay'-s lievolution, 261, 
265 ; Gibbes's Documentary Hist., 121. 

VOL. IV. — 2 b 



370 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

stances had compelled their remaining in the town, Bf 
four's treatment but strengthened them in the cause ». 
freedom. This was especially the case with the womert' 
In this crisis of danger to the liberties of America, sayt 
Ramsay, the ladies of South Carolina conducted them- 
selves with more than Spartan magnanimity. They gloried 
in the appellation of rebel ladies ; and though they with- 
stood repeated solicitation to grace public entertainments, 
yet they crowded on board prison ships and other places of 
confinement to solace their suffering countrymen. While 
the conquerors were regaling themselves at concerts and 
assemblies, they could obtain very few of the fair sex to 
associate with them ; but no sooner was an American 
officer introduced as a prisoner than his company was 
sought for and his person treated with every possible 
mark of attention and respect. On other occasions the 
ladies in a great measure retired from the public e^^e, 
wept over the distresses of their country, and gave every 
proof of the warmest attachments to its suffering cause. 
In the height of the British conquests, when poverty and 
ruin seemed the unavoidable portion of every adherent to 
the independence of America, the ladies in general dis- 
covered more firmness than the men. Many of them, like 
guardian angels, preserved their husbands from falling in 
the hour of temptation when interests and convenience 
had almost got the better of honor and patriotism. Among 
the numbers who were banished from their families and 
whose property was seized by the conquerors many ex- 
amples could be produced of ladies parting cheerfully with 
their sons, husbands, and brothers, exhorting them to forti- 
tude and perseverance ; and repeatedly entreating them 
never to suffer family attachments to interfere with the duty 
they owed to their country. When in the progress of the 
war they were also comprehended under a general sentence 



IN THE REVOLUTION 371 

^banishment, with equal resolution, they parted with their 
i^tive country and the many endearments of home, — fol- 
^wed these husbands into prison ships and distant lands, 
vhere, though they had long been in the habit of giving, 
they were reduced to the necessity of receiving charity. 
[They renounced the present gratification of wealth and 
the future prospects of fortunes for their growing offspring, 
adopted every scheme of economy, and, though born to 
affluence and habituated to attendance, betook themselves 
[to hard labor. ^ The foreign historian, Botta, concludes 
a paraphrase of this passage from Ramsay with the obser- 
vation that to this heroism of the women of Carolina is 
principally to be imputed that the love and even the 
fname of liberty were not totally extinguished in the 
Southern provinces.^ 

The exiles in St. Augustine, though with the exception 
of Christopher Gadsden, who was still immured in the dun- 
geon, because of his refusal to give another parole, and for 
a part of the time also of Jacob Read, for some alleged 
offence, upon their paroles were allowed some freedom, 
but within very narrow limits, in the inner square of the 
town. They were obliged to attend roll-calls twice a day 
at the State House. Their correspondence which they 
were allowed to carry on with their friends and families in 
Carolina had all to pass under the eye and examination of 
the commandant of the garrison. The inhabitants of the 
town were advised by the military authorities to have no 
communication with them, which advice, coming from the 
source it did, was scarcely less than an order, and was so 
regarded and obeyed. Soldiers were forbidden to associ- 
ate with them under penalty of court-martial. The lieu- 



262. 



1 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 123, 125. 

2 Botta's History of the Independence of the U.S. of Am., vol. II, 261, 



372 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tenant-governor of East Florida, John Moultrie, the brother 
of General Moultrie, though closely connected with some of 
the prisoners, and doubtless well known to most of them, 
kept himself aloof. The fourth Sunday after their arrival 
the different messes met together for religious worship, and 
Mr. James Hamden Thomson, the schoolmaster, read some 
prayers from the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of 
England, and a sermon from a printed collection, no way 
relating to their present position. The next Sunday the 
Rev. Mr. Lewis delivered a very moving discourse, it is 
said, of his own from the text, " If I am bereaved of my 
children, I am bereaved." These services it was proposed 
to continue every Sunday ; but on the following Friday 
evening Mr. Brown, the commissary of prisoners, informed 
the gentlemen that the governor had taken offence at 
their having public worship, and that it was his pleasure 
they should discontinue it in the future. This they re- 
fused to do unless prohibited in writing. Upon this Gov- 
ernor Tonyn wrote to Mr. Brown, the commissary, that 
having been informed that the rebel prisoners, forgetful of 
their parole, had very improperly held private meetings for 
the purpose of performing divine service agreeable to 
their rebellious principles, and as such proceedings were 
thought highly injurious to his Majesty's government, and 
of a seditious tendency, and an infringement of their 
pledge of honor, he desired the commissary to acquaint 
them that such meetings would not be allowed, that 
seats would be provided for their reception in the parish 
church, where it was expected that they would observe 
the utmost decency. The commissary was also directed 
to say that messages delivered by him were of sufficient 
authenticity ; that it was in compliance with his request 
only that the governor condescended to write this letter. 
The exiles were then put in the position of having to 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 373 

forego all religious services or joining in the prayer for his 
Majesty the king, and against their own cause. 

But upon the whole, as matters usually go with pris- 
oners, they had little cause of complaint beyond the fact 
that they were deprived of their liberty and exiled from 
their families and homes. The commissary of prisoners, 
Mr. William Brown, a Scotchman by birth, was an up- 
right, honorable king's man, faithful to his Majesty, but 
ever kind and indulgent to the prisoners under his care as 
far as was consistent with his duty. When entire satis- 
faction could not be afforded, he would soothe their feel- 
ings and console them in a friendly and gentlemanly 
manner.^ The messes into which they were divided 
were furnished with rations. Their servants whom 
they were allowed to retain were permitted to fish for 
their subsistence ; and they were allowed to purchase 
other supplies in Charlestown, where they had agents for 
the purpose, who shipped the goods to them. The men- 
tion of a few items from one of the orders to the agent of 
one of the messes will indicate that their living at first was 
by no means that of anchorites. " Hh*^ of Old Jamaica 
Rum, divided into 2 or more small casks, &c., to be packed 
up in Rice Barrils among corn &c." "A quarter Pipe 
Port wine," " 8 dozen Fowls full grown and as many lay- 
ing hens among them as possible." " Two gross Fresh Laid 
Eggs to be packed up in Fine Salt." " A Cheshire Cheese," 
" 6 Quart bottle Sweet oil." " A case of 5 gallons French 
Brandy." "12 Packs Playing cards." "Fish Hooks, 
&ct., &ct."^ The order amounted to £85 sterling, to be 
paid by their friends and families in Charlestown. 

But all this was very much changed before their release. 
Their estates were confiscated under the orders elsewhere 
mentioned, and their families and friends at home had no 

1 Johnson's Traditions, p. 321. * Diary (MS.) of Josiah Smith, Jr. 



374 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

means with which to supply their necessities, still less 
their luxuries. 

By the spring of 1781 the condition of the exiles had 
changed very much for the worse, the sequestration of 
their estates had cut off supplies from home, and deprived 
them of the means of paying for the lodgings they had 
been allowed to have for themselves at great expense. 
Upon the arrival, therefore, of Colonel Allured Clarke, the 
Commandant-in-chief of the provinces of Georgia and East 
Florida, with reenforcements, under an expectation of an 
invasion of the Spaniards, the exiles memorialized him, 
stating their inability longer to pay for their lodgings, — 
that they had been informed by the commandant of 
Charlestown, both previous to their removal, and since 
their arrival, that they should be supplied with full ra- 
tions ; but those received were found to be insufficient, 
not only for their comfortable, but even necessary, support, 
and submitting to him whether from this state of matters 
they might not reasonably expect to be accommodated 
with quarters and competent supplies. They represented 
that the paroles given were effectual ties upon their honor 
without the annoyance of daily roll-calls, and asked for an 
extension of their limits. This application was partly 
answered by a permit to any ten of them to fish daily 
upon the river within certain limits at any time between 
gun-fire in the morning and four o'clock in the afternoon. 

The information of the execution on the 3d of May of 
the cartel for a general exchange of all prisoners had 
reached St. Augustine, and the exiles were all in hopes of 
a speedy release, when on the 5th of July they received an 
order to prepare themselves to marcli to the St. John 
River, where they would be provided with boats to take 
them to Savannah. Great consternation was caused by 
this order. The exiles met and a^ain memorialized the 



IN THE REVOLUTION 375 

commandant, now Colonel Glazier, to consider the distress 
the execution of such an order must necessarily involve — 
that many among them were aged and infirm, and all since 
their captivity more or less enervated by an inactive and 
sedentary life, that in such circumstances a fatiguing 
march in that sultry season, through a wilderness desti- 
tute of every accommodation, even of water, and now to 
be confined for near a fortnight on small boats exposed to 
every inclemency of the weather, would be attended with 
fatal consequences to many. 

To this memorial no other answer was given than a 
verbal declaration of the commissary, that as official 
orders might be on board a man-of-war then off the bar, 
the commandant deferred their journey until such orders 
should come to his hands. Early Saturday, the 7th, sig- 
nals were hung out that several vessels were in sight, but 
the winds being contrary they did not get up to the town 
until Sunday evening, when, to the great joy of the exiles, 
they brought the intelligence of the exchange agreed upon 
on the 22d of June.^ But the joy at the prospect of their 
near release was greatly embittered when, upon receiving 
The Royal Gazette of the 27th, they found published therein 
the following order by Colonel Balfour : — 

" As many persons lately exchanged as prison eifs of war and others 
■who have long chose to reside in the colonies now in rebellion, have 
notwitlistanding (such there absence) wives and families still remain- 
ing here the weight of which on all accounts is equally impoliticly as 
inconsistent should longer be suffered to rest on the government estab- 
lished here and the resources of it : 

" The commandant is therefore pleased to direct that all such 
women and children and others as above described should quit the 
town and province on or before the first day of August next ensuing ; 
of which Regulation such persons are hereby ordered to take notice 
and to remove then accordingly." 

1 Diary (MS.) of Josiah Smith, Jr. 



376 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

On Monday morning Mr. Brown, the commissary, in- 
formed the exiles that Colonel Glazier had received 
directions from Colonel Balfour to permit the whole of the 
company to depart from St. Augustine as prisoners ex- 
changed either for Virginia or Philadelphia as they should 
choose, but by no means to grant them liberty to stop or 
even to touch at Charlestown. And that for their accom- 
modation he was to furnish them with one small schooner, 
which was not large enough even to carry their baggage. 

The exiles thus found the day of their deliverance to 
which they had looked forward with so much joy a day of 
lamentation and distress. What was to become of their 
families, turned out of their habitations which had been 
secured to them by the terms of capitulation ? How were 
the helpless women and children to find the means of obey- 
ing the order for their departure ? And as if purposely to 
cut off all remaining means of doing so, Balfour followed 
up his former cruel orders with the following, issued on 
the 11th : — 

" The commandant is pleased to dkect that no person living imder 
the rebel government shall have liberty, or grant power to others 
for so doing to let or lease any house within this town without a 
special licence for so doing as it is intended to take all such houses 
as may be wanted for the publick service, paying to the owners of 
those secured by the capitulation a reasonable rent for the same, as 
by those means government will be enabled to reinstate its firm 
friends in possession of their own houses." 

In consequence of this mandate, those who adhered to 
the cause of America were turned out of their houses, 
which were taken possession of by the British in violation 
of public faith, and there was scarce an instance of com- 
pensation being allowed for the seizure of their property. 
Scenes of the greatest distress ensued. More than a thou- 
sand persons, says Ramsay, were exiled from their homes, 



\ IN THE BEVOLUTION 377 

and thrown on the charity of strangers for their support. 
Husbands and wives, parents and children, some of whom 
had been for several months separated from each other, 
were not permitted to soothe their common distress by 
being together, but were doomed to have their first inter- 
view among strangers in a distant land.^ 

The exiles represented to Colonel Glazier the insuf- 
ficiency of the vessel which had been designated for their 
voyage to Philadelphia, who the next day offered instead 
that he would let them have another schooner, the East 
Florida, about sixty tons, on condition they would consent 
to pay <£100 sterling towards her hire. He ultimately 
agreed, however, to let them have the vessel free of charge, 
the government assuming its hire ; and that he would 
order four weeks' provisions to be laid in for the passage. 
Whereupon the exiles secured another vessel, a brigan- 
tine, the Nancy, at an expense of 200 guineas, made up 
amongst them all, and divided their party into two bodies 
of thirty and thirty-one, keeping as near as could be the 
arrangement of their messes. They then cast lots for the 
vessels ; the brigantine Nancy fell to the lot of the party 
of thirty-one, of whom Christopher Gadsden was the chief, 
and the schooner East Florida to that of the lot of thirty, 
of whom John Neufville was the chief. Both vessels 
dropped down the river with the prisoners aboard on the 
17th of July, but did not get over the bar until the 19th. 
The schooner reached the capes of Delaware on the 28th 
and the brig on the 2d of August. 

On the 25th of July many of the families who had been 
banished by the order of the commandant of the town 
embarked for Philadelphia in a brig commanded by Cap- 
tain Downham Newton, with a passport making her a flag 
of truce. How the funds were raised to provide for their 
1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 300-301. 



378 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

removal is illustrated in a copy of the petition of Mrs. 
Mary De Saussure, wife of the exile, Daniel De Saussure. 
It is addressed " To the Honorable Lieutenant-Colonel 
Nisbet Balfour, Commandant at Charlestown," and is as 
follows : — 

" The humble petition of Mary De Saussure wife of Daniel De 
Saussure showeth that your petitioner is unable in her present cir- 
cumstances to provide for the expense that must necessarily attend 
the removal of herself and family from their Province ; therefore 
prays your honor will be pleased to grant her the indulgence of mak- 
ing sale of the furniture belonging to her dwelling house and kitchen, 
also a riding chaise and to grant her such further indulgence as to 
your honor shall seem meet and your petitioner as in duty bound will 
ever pray," etc. 

The petition was by the commandant referred to the 
Board of Police, which after a week's consideration gra- 
ciously indorsed, " Mrs. De Saussure has permission to sell 
her furniture and chaise as requested." 

The brig, containing ten or twelve families, numbering 
nearly one hundred and thirty souls, had a prosperous voy- 
age, and reached the capes on the 2d of August, and with 
a fair wind continued its course up to New Castle. 
Another brig had been in sight all day pursuing the same 
course a little behind them. The two bi'igs came to anchor 
in the evening close together; when William Johnson, on 
that from St. Augustine hailed that from Charlestown, 
and was answered, " From Charlestown " in the well-known 
voice of the captain. They immediately recognized each 
other. " Is that you, Downham Newton ? " " Ay ; is that 
you, William Johnson? we have 3'our family on board." 
Many other manly voices, says the Traditions, immediately 
and anxiously inquired each for his own family, and a 
joyful meeting then took place of many dear ones thus 
providentially brought together.^ 

1 Johnson's Traditions, 332-333. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 379 

Balfour's cruel edict, banishing from the town the wives 
and families of those who .would not sully their honor and 
conscience by taking protection, compelled the removal 
of a large number of men, women, children, and servants 
to Philadelphia, besides the exiles. These took with them 
such of their movable property as they could by permission 
and convenience remove. In all they numbered 670 men, 
women, and children, and 71 servants. To meet the neces- 
sities of these exiles, Congress on the 23d of July came to 
the following resolution : — 

'' Resolved that five suitable persons be appointed and authorized 
to open a subscription for a loan of Thirty Thousand Dollars for the 
support of such of the States of South Carolina and Georgia as have 
been driven from their country and possessions by the enemy; the 
said States respectively by their delegates in Congress pledging their 
faith for the repayment of the sum which shall be received by their 
respective citizens as soon as the legislatures of the said States shall 
severally be in condition to make provision for so doing and Congress 
hereby guaranteeing this obligation." 

The commissioners under the resolution. Colonel John 
Bayard, Dr. James Hutchinson, Mr. George Meade, Mr. Wil- 
liam Bingham, and Mr. George Barge wrote letters to the 
executives of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, 
and the New England States, soliciting their help towards 
the filling up of this loan and engaging the interest to be 
paid on the money so lent. But from the general scarcity 
of hard cash in these several States, — as it was said, — no 
assistance was obtained from any other State than Massa- 
chusetts, whose executive, issuing an appeal to be published 
in all the churches, raised the sum of $6296, including 
Governor Hancock's own subscription of $400. There 
were also two special donations of $100 each from this 
State. There being more money in the State of Pennsjd- 
vania, $15,132 were by 86 persons subscribed on the loan 



380 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and 13312 by 236 persons on donation chiefly obtained by 
the address of Messrs. Bayard and Hutchinson, to whom the 
necessitous Carolinians and Georgians were greatly indebted 
for their existence. But these subscriptions, amounting 
together to $24,940, were by no means all paid. By the 
13th of November following, Mr. Meade, the treasurer of 
the commission, had received and turned over to the com- 
mittee of the exiles appointed to receive it, $7568.72. But 
great or small, these contributions were of great service to 
the exiles, particularly so to those who could not get into any 
kind of business so as to earn their support, and without 
which some would have been near to starvation.^ 

Most of the ofBcers, Continental and militia, released by 
the exchange, who were landed at Jamestown immediately 
proceeded overland to rejoin their countrymen, — and when 
they could their former command, — to carry on the war, 
which had now taken a more favorable turn for the cause 
on account of Avhich they had so long endured captivity. 

The question as to the condition of those who had given 
paroles or taken Royal protection and afterwards resumed 
their arms on the American side became more and more 
important to the British authorities. As Sumter, Marion, 
and Harden appeared again and again within their lines, 
each time they carried off with them new recruits, those 
who seized the opportunity of avenging themselves for 
injuries received or faith broken while in the power of the 
enemy to whom they had surrendered upon terms. It 
could not have escaped the observation of Balfour that the 
two inroads which had been made nearest to the lines of 
the town were each led by an officer who had renewed his 
allegiance to the king since ' the capitulation of Charles- 
town, and had lately gone over to the American side and, 
taking his life in his hands, had accepted a commission in the 
1 Diary (MS.) of Josiah Smith, Jr. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 381 

field. Colonel Hayne had surprised the outpost within 
seven miles of the lines of the town, and Wade Hampton 
had dashed in even two miles nearer, and, like Hayne, had 
carried off his prisoners. Some great example must be 
made to strike terror into those who, yet remaining quiet 
under their parole, might be contemplating similar conduct. 
Wade Hampton had escaped with his spoils, but unfortu- 
nately Hayne had fallen into their hands. Postell's case 
had in some way been referred to General Greene by the 
respective commissaries of prisoners, and must for the 
present at least be held in abeyance. The question was. 
What should be done with Ha3aie ? Balfour had now time 
to give his attention to the matter, and he was prompt in 
deciding it. 



CHAPTER XVII 

1781 

Colonel Hayne had been captured on the 8th of July. 
But Balfour, the valiant officer whose services during the 
campaign in South Carolina werq confined within the gates 
of the town, had been too busily engaged issuing edicts for 
the government of the citizens under his power, annoying 
the American prisoners in their exchange, banishing the 
families of the exiles, and harassing them in their depar- 
ture, to give the time and attention to this case which its 
importance demanded. He held it back, as it were, as a 
choice morsel on which the cruel vindictiveness of his 
nature should have full leisure to expend itself. There 
was also a stronger motive for delay. Balfour had risen 
to his high position in the British army through the influ- 
ence of Sir William Howe ; but he had no such interest 
with Sir Henry Clinton, who succeeded Howe, nor with 
Lord Cornwallis, who commanded the Southern Depart- 
ment. On the other hand, Lord Rawdon was a favorite 
with both of these, while between his lordship and him- 
self there existed no kindly relations, nor was the question 
as to their respective commands in the province free from 
doubt. There was a question, too, it will be remem- 
bered, as to rank between Lord Rawdon, who was a full 
colonel in a provincial regiment, and Balfour, who was a 
lieutenant colonel in the regular line. Colonel Balfour 
deemed it important, therefore, before he proceeded to the 
extremity he contemplated, to commit Lord Rawdon to his 

882 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 383 

purpose. His lordship, after withdrawing from Ninety Six, 
had halted, it will be recollected, at Orangeburgh, where 
he remained at the time. To him, therefore, Balfour wrote, 
telling of the rising under Hayne in the rear of his army, 
and how luckily it had been crushed. He represented the 
imperative necessity of repressing the disposition to similar 
acts of treachery, as he termed them, by making an exam- 
ple of the individual who, he said, had planned as well as 
headed this revolt, and who had fallen into his hands ; and 
solicited Rawdon's concurrence that it might vouch to Sir 
Henry Clinton, with whom he was on ill terms, for the 
public policy of the measure.^ 

For nearly three weeks Hayne lay in the provost — the 
basement of the Exchange — awaiting his fate, about 
which the two British officers were corresponding. The 
result he must have anticipated. Doubtless he fully 
realized, as did his other compatriots who acted similarly, 
when at last he accepted Governor Rutledge's commission, 
raised his regiment, and joined Harden, that he dared the 
gallows as well as the guns of the enemy, and that for him 
there would be a short shrift if taken. It was a curious 
coincidence that, while he lay there in the provost among 
the common felons, awaiting his doom, his friend. Dr. Ram- 
say, to whom he had been so careful to explain the circum- 
stances under which he had been compelled to renew his 
allegiance to the king, and Richard Hutson, his brother-in- 
law, together with the other exiles, most of whom were his 
friends and associates, were at sea passing Charlestown 
bar on their voyage to Philadelphia, just released from their 
long detention at St. Augustine, but still exiles from 
home. 

Lord Rawdon declares that he had no conception that 

1 Letter of Marquis of Hastings, Appendix to Memoirs of the War of 
1776 (Lee), 616. 



384 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

a question could possibly be raised as to the justice of 
Hayne's execution, and that he replied to Balfour that 
there was no doubt as to the necessity of making the 
example, to which he would readily give the sanction of 
his name. He very soon followed this reply and came 
himself to Charlestown. Garden, in his Anecdotes, charges 
on the authority of a British subject of great respectability, 
then in the town, that Lord Rawdon's retirement at this 
time, when his services were most required to contend 
against the increasing difficulties of the situation, leaving 
the conduct of the army to those who were altogether 
unequal to meet the exigencies of the time, was much 
criticised; and that the plea of ill health upon which it 
was based was seriously questioned. ^ But the gallant 
career of this nobleman throughout the last year's cam- 
paign renders the truth of such a charge extremely improb- 
able, while the arduous services he had rendered, much 
of which had been in the swamps of the Congaree and 
Wateree, might well have affected his health. To add to 

1 Lord Rawdon, Lieutenant-Colonel Doyle, and his lady sailed for Eng- 
land on the 21st of August, 1781 (The Royal Gazette). "Lord Rawdon 
applied, but in vain, to Dr. Alexander Garden, a physician of high reputa- 
tion, for a certificate, testifying to his inability to continue in the field. 
This statement is made on the authority of Mr. James Penman, a British 
subject of great respectability, who further assured the author of these 
Memoirs, that the anger of Dr. Garden was so highly excited by the 
scandalous dereliction of duty by Lord Rawdon that, on the manifesta- 
tion of a design by many Tories to pay him the compliment of a farewell 
address, he boldly protested against it, declaring that if they would 
di'aw up a remonstrance reprobating his determination to quit the army 
at a moment that he knew that there was not, in the Southern service, 
a man qualified to command it, his name should be the first inserted." 
— Oar dell's Anecdotes, 254. 

Dr. Alexander Garden, referred to by the author of the Anecdotes, was 
his father ; the father and son espousing opposite sides, Dr. Garden re- 
fused any association with his son, the author, and left the province, going 
to England, where he spent the rest of his life. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 385 

which his subsequent career at home and abroad precludes 
the idea that he would without good reason have deserted 
the Royal cause at such a time. But however brilliant his 
military conduct in America, on the Continent, and in 
India, and notwithstanding the character for humanity 
which he afterwards established in Parliament, his com- 
mand in South Carolina was signalized by the greatest 
severity. The difference between Balfour and himself 
was that he braved the dangers of the field, in which he 
exercised his vigorous discipline upon friend and foe alike, 
while Balfour indulged his cruelty in the security of the 
walls of the city. It must be added that in this matter, 
from whatever motive, or under whatever influence, his 
lordship's conduct was characterized by indecision and 
want of candor, both at the time and in his subsequent 
justification of his connection with it. 

Lord Rawdon left the field immediately after the action 
at Quinby Bridge, and the withdrawal of the American 
forces to the Congaree. He states that on his arrival 
application was at once made to him by a number of ladies 
to save Colonel Hayne from his impending death, and that, 
ignorant of the complicated nature and extent of the crime, 
he incautiously promised to use his endeavors towards 
inducing Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour to lenity ; that in 
pursuance of this promise a petition to be signed by the 
ladies was drawn up by one of the officers of the staff, he 
believed by Major Barry, the deputy adjutant general,^ to 
serve as a basis for his address to the commandant. It 
thus appears that the petition of the ladies was prepared 
with his knowledge and concurrence by a staff officer. Is 
it not curious then that the paper so drawn should be ad- 
dressed, " To the right honorable Lord Rawdon, Commayider- 

1 Henry Barry, captain Fifty-second Regiment, serving as deputy 
adjutant general in South Carolina. 

VOL. IV. — 2 c 



386 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

in-chief of Ids Majesty s forces in South Carolina, and 
to Colonel Balfour, commandant at Charlestown,^^ if so be 
that he was not in fact the ranking^ and commandinor offi- 
cer over Balfour as he asserts.^ The petition, which was 
generally signed by the ladies, appealed most earnestly to 
these officers for the life of the unfortunate gentleman. 
The paper was drawn up, as Lord Rawdon declares, as " a 
step gratifying to me ... to serve as a basis for my 
address to the commandant." But his lordship had 
already committed himself to Colonel Hayne's execution 
by his letter from camp. Well, therefore, might Colonel 
Balfour be surprised at his lordship's conduct. " When 
I opened the matter to him," says Lord Rawdon, "he 
appeared much astonished, detailed to me the circum- 
stances of the case with which I had been completely 
unacquainted, requesting me to inform myself more mi- 
nutely upon them, and earnestly begged me to ponder as 
to the effect to which forbearance from visiting such an 
offence with due punishment (sure to be ascribed to 
timidity) must unavoidably produce on the minds of the 
inhabitants. It was a grievous error in me," he continues, 

1 Letter of Marquis of Hasting, formerly Lord Rawdon, to Colonel 
Henry Lee, Appendix to 3Iemoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), G15. The 
Marquis writes : " Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour was my senior in the army 
list, and my provisional rank of colonel held for the purpose of connec- 
tion with the regiment raised by me did not alter that relation, as the 
colonels of the provincial establishments were subordinate to the youngest 
lieutenant colonel of the line. Sir Henry Clinton, in order to give me the 
management of affairs in South Carolina, subsequently promoted me as a 
brigadier general of provincials, but we had no intimation of this till the 
commission arrived after I had actually embarked for England. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Balfour would, therefore, at all events, have commanded 
me." This letter was written the 24th of June, 1813, thirty -odd years 
after the execution of Colonel Hayne, and in this time the marquis had 
certainly forgotten the facts. As we have before seen, he was recognized 
by Lord Cornwallis as commanding all the other officers in South Carolina, 
and so the adjutant general of the department understood. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 387 

" that I did not at once yield to the reasoning . . . and 
to the conviction which it could not but impress, instead 
of still attempting to realize the hope which I had suffered 
the ladies so loosely to entertain. I unluckily persevered 
in the effort to reconcile a pardon with some appearance 
of propriety." There was an interview between Mrs. 
Peronneau, Colonel Hayne's sister-in-law, the wife of 
Henry Peronneau, who was a Loyalist, and Lord Rawdon, 
in which he says he frankly told her what had passed 
between himself and Colonel Balfour, stating the embar- 
rassment in which he found himself from the enormity of 
the transgression, but adding that, unless there should be 
an intervention from General Greene he would try if the 
difficulty could be removed. He states that, as a mode of 
gaining time, he solicited Colonel Balfour to have the par- 
ticulars of the case ascertained by a court of inquiry for 
his (Rawdon's) satisfaction, alleging the chance — though, 
he declares, he did not really believe the existence of any 
such — that circumstances might have been distorted by 
the animosity of Hayne's neighbors. 

This was the situation when, on Thursday morning, the 
26th of July, Colonel Hayne received a note from Major 
Fraser, the town major, 26th, saying: — 

"Sir: I am charged by the commandant to inform you that a 
council of general officers "will assemble to-morrow at ten o'clock, in 
the hall of the Province, to try you." 

It will be observed that the first notice was of the sitting 
of a court to try Colonel Hayne. This is important in 
view of what follows. For in the evening of the same 
day, he received another notice as follows : — 

" Sir : I am ordered by the commandant to acquaint you that 
instead of a council of general officers,^ as is mentioned in my letter 

1 No doubt field officers were meant. This note is dated Thursday even- 
ing, 27th July, 1781, but it is evident that this was a mistake j it should 
have been 26th. 



388 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of this morning, a court of inquiry, composed of four general officers 
and four captains, will be assembled to-morrow at ten o'clock in the 
province hall, for the purpose of detennininy under what point of vieio 
you ought to he considered. 

" You will immediately be allowed pen, ink, and paper, and any 
person tliat you choose to appoint will be permitted to accompany 
you as your counsel at the same hour and place." ^ 

Colonel Hayne was entirely misled by the change in 
the tenor of these notices. He assumed that the purpose 
was to interpose a court of inquiry, the military form of 
proceeding in the nature of the civil proceedings of a 
grand jury, to ascertain if there really existed any ground 
for putting him upon trial at all, instead of putting him 
at once upon trial, as was intended by the first notice. 
Alas ! he was terribly mistaken. Lord Rawdon's letter 
suggests the explanation and significance of the change. 
" This tribunal, although a court of inquiry," he says, 
"was the same form of investigation as had been used in 
the case of Major AndrS.^''^ And so it was. General 
Greene, now commanding in South Carolina, had been 
president of the board before which Andr^ had been 
taken, and that board had been ordered "to report a 
precise state of his case, and to determine in what character 
he was to he considered, and to what punishment he was 
liable." 3 

Had he known these circumstances and understood the 
change, Colonel Hayne would at once have read in it his 
death sentence. He would have understood that he was 
to receive the same measure as Andr^ had. Before that 
court he was accordingly taken on Saturday, the 28th. 

1 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 511, 512 ; Gibbes's Docu- 
mentary Hist. (1781-82), 109. 

2 Letter of Lord Rawdon, then Earl of Moira, to Colonel Lee, 
Appendix to Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 617. 

8 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 263. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 389 

Of the proceedings before it he has left the account in 
his letter of protest to Lord Rawdon and Colonel Balfour. 

"... Having never entertained any other idea of a Court of 
Enquiry, nor heard of any other being formed of it, than of its 
serving merely to precede a council of war or some other tribunal for 
examining the circumstances more fully, excepting in the case of a 
spy, and Mr. Jarvis, lieutenant marshal to the Provost, not having 
succeeded in finding the person whom I named for my council, I did 
not take the pains to summon any witnesses, though it would 
have been in my power to have produced many; and I presented 
myself before the council without any assistance whatever. When 
I was before that assembly I was farther convinced that I had not 
been deceived in my conjectures ; and I found that the members of 
it were not sworn nor the witnesses examined on oath, and all the 
members as well as every person present might easily have perceived 
by the questions which I asked and by the whole tenor of my conduct 
that I had not the least notion that I was tried or examined upon 
an affair in which my life or death depended." 

An American staff officer, it is said, then a prisoner on 
parole, present at the court, stated that the proceedings be- 
fore the board were the most summary imaginable, and the 
proofs confined exclusively to the fact that Colonel Hayne 
had taken protection, and afterwards resumed his arms. 
An address made by Colonel Hayne to his troops, breath- 
ing, as this officer declares, the noblest sentiments of 
patriotism and humanity, and the testimony of the officer 
who took him, were almost the only evidence offered in 
the case.^ The address referred to, made by him to his 
officers, was that made, it is said, when at the solicitation 
of his neighbors and the inhabitants generally of the dis- 
trict, to resume a hostile position and become their leader, 
he at last consented to do so. It contained this honorable 
and open declaration, " That he could only be induced to 

1 Article entitled "Execution of Colonel Isaac Hayne," Southern 
Beview, Charleston, 1828, vol. I, 92. The name of the staff officer 
quoted is not mentioned. 



390 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

comply with their wishes by obtaining a solemn promise 
from all who were to serve under him that an immediate 
stop should be put to every unnecessary severity ; a de- 
sideratum the more to be insisted upon as he was resolved 
that exemplary punishment should be inflicted on every 
individual who should indulge in pillage or commit any 
act of inhumanity against his foe." When this paper was 
presented to Major McKenzie,^ who sat as president of the 
tribunal, it is said that, with great expression of sensibility, 
he requested the prisoner " to retain it till he was brought 
before the court-martial that was to determine his fate," 
assuring him "that the present court were only directed 
to inquire whether or not he acknowledged himself to be 
the individual who had taken protection." ^ 

It appears, therefore, that the court and the prisoner alike 
supposed that this tribunal was in fact as well as in name 
a mere court of inquiry, making a preliminary examina- 
tion upon what further proceedings were to be had. But 
in this they were both mistaken — if not intentionally mis- 
led. Lord Rawdon declares that it was held at his sug- 
gestion, and that his purpose was to gain time. But his 
conduct on the occasion will scarcely bear out this (his) 
recollection thirty years after. The court sat on Friday 
the 27th, when it had Colonel Hayne before it, and ap- 
parently again on Saturday, probably to consult. What 
it actually did determine is not known, for Lord Rawdon 
took the record of its proceedings with him when he sailed 
shortly after for Europe, and, being captured at sea, he 
threw it overboard. If the story be true that the presi- 
dent of the court of inquiry returned to Colonel Hayne 

1 Probably Andrew McKenzie, mentioned in list No. 3 of the Confisca- 
tion Acts (Statutes of So. Ca., vol. VI, 631), i.e. as one who had accepted 
a commission in the Royal Militia (Ibid., vol. IV, 519). 

2 Garden's Anecdotes of the Bevolution, 252. The author regrets ex- 
ceedingly that no copy of this address can now be found. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 391 

his address to his regiment, that he might present it be- 
fore the court which would try him — and Colonel Hayne's 
possession of the paper after appearing before the court 
of inquiry is strong corroboration that it was so — it is 
scarcely probable that the finding of the court was suffi- 
cient of itself to warrant the execution which followed. 
And indeed this was admitted by Rawdon and Balfour as 
will directly appear. So far from availing himself of the 
opportunity for delay which might easily have been ob- 
tained by allowing the investigation which Lord Rawdon 
declares his purpose was to have made, on Sundaj^, the day 
after the court had apparently adjourned, he promptly 
joined Balfour in the following judgment : — 

" To Mr. Hayne in the Provost Prison 

" Memorandum 

" Sunday 29 July 1781 
" The Adjutant of the town will be so good as to go to Colonel Hayne 
in Provost Prison and inform him that in consequence of the court of 
enquiry held yesterday and the preceding evening Lord Rawdon and 
the commandant Lieutenant Colonel Nisbet Balfour have resolved upon 
his execution on Tuesday the thirty-first instant at six o'clock, for hav- 
ing been found under arms raising a regiment to oppose the British 
government, though he had become a subject and had acce^jted the 
protection of that government after the reduction of Charlestown." 

Availing himself of the permission to be represented by 
counsel, as he supposed before a court yet to sit. Colonel 
Hayne had engaged the services of Mr. John Colcock a 
lawyer then practising in the town. Upon learning of 
this order Mr. Colcock immediately prepared a written 
opinion denying the authority of these officers thus to pass 
upon the life or death of the accused. He advised (1) 
that in the notice given of an examination before a court 
of inquiry there was not, even according to the rules of 
martial law, a sufficient certainty nor any express accusa- 
tion which might be the object of the court's inquiry or 



392 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of the accused's defence ; (2) that no enemy can be sen- 
tenced to death in consequence of any military article, or 
any other martial process, without a previous trial, except 
spies, who by the articles of war were expressly debarred 
from that right ; (3) that no subject could or ought to be 
deprived of his life, liberty, or fortune unless by the award 
of his peers ; that there was no law which could authorize 
a judgment like that which these officers had taken upon 
themselves to pronounce ; that every man was deemed in- 
nocent until his guilt was proved; that being taken in 
arms did not argue criminality so far as to hinder the cul- 
prit from making his defence, either by proving a commis- 
sion or upon any other ground ; that many of those who 
had taken up arms had been acquitted on such proofs. 
(4) " In consideration of the principles above adduced," 
Mr. Colcock concluded, " I am positively of opinion that 
taking you in the light of an enemy (not of a spy), the 
process carried on against you is not lawful; but if jou. 
are to be considered as a subject, such proceedings mili- 
tate against and are diametrically contrary to all laws." 

This opinion Colonel Hayne sent to Lord Rawdon and 
Colonel Balfour, with an earnest but dignified remon- 
strance against this summary proceeding. As already 
quoted, he declared that he had entertained no idea that 
he was before a court for trial when taken before the court 
of inquiry. He admitted that in case of spies a court of 
inquiry is all that can be necessary, because the simple 
fact whether the person is or is not a spy is all that is to 
be ascertained ; but that no such accusation as that had 
been made against him. 

" Judge then, my Lord and Sir," he urged, " of the astonishment I 
must have been in when I found that they had drawn me by surprise 
into a procedure tending to judgment without knowing it to be such, 
and deprived me of the ability of making a legal defence, which it 



IN THE REVOLUTION 398 

would have been very easy for me to have done, founded both in law 
and in fact; when I saw myself destitute of the assistance of counsel 
or of witnesses ; and when they abruptly informed me that after 
the procedure of the court I had been condemned to die, and that in 
a few days. Immediately upon receiving this notice I sent for the 
lawyer whom I had originally chosen for my counsel. I here inclose 
his opinion concerning the legality of the process against me ; and I 
beg that I may be permitted to prefer myself to him. I can assure 
you with the utmost truth that I both have and had many reasons to 
urge in my defence if you will grant me the favor of a regular trial ; 
if not (which I cannot however suppose from your justice and equity) 
I earnestly entreat that my execution may be deferred that I may at 
least take farewell of my children and prepare myself for the dreadful 
change. I hope that you will return me a speedy answer," etc. 

The last request of Colonel Hayne was complied with 
at one o'clock on Monday, the 30th. Major Fraser 
brought him the fatal answer. It was this : — 

" I have to inform you that your execvition is not ordered in con- 
sequence of any sentence from a court of enquiry, but by virtue of 
the authority with which the Commander-in-chief in South Carolina 
and the commanding officer in Charlestown are invested. And their 
resolves on the subject are unchangeable." 

Here it will be observed that Lord Rawdon allows him- 
self to be styled officially Commander-in-chief in South 
Carolina, repudiates the court which he suggested, and 
promptly joins Colonel Balfour, the commanding officer 
in Charlestown, in assuming the responsibility of the exe- 
cution, upon which he declared they were inexorably 
determined. The terseness, vigor, and temper of this 
paper is scarcely compatible with the tenderness he appears 
at first to have exhibited to Mrs. Peronneau, and for which 
he subsequently claimed tlie credit. 

Colonel Hayne, upon receiving this curt reply, appealed 
again to Major Fraser that he would seriously entreat these 
officers to grant a respite that he might have time to send for 
his children, and take of them the last farewell. This ap- 



394 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

peal was promptly and sternly refused. At three o'clock 
the town adjutant, Mr. Cooper, brought him for answer that 
his request was rejected; and on Tuesday, the 31st, at one 
o'clock in the morning, the deputy provost marshal brought 
him word, says Hayne, " that it was time for me to pre- 
pare for death, as he had just received orders to that effect, 
and that I was to leave my apartment at five o'clock." 

In less than half an hour, however. Major Eraser came 
in and delivered the following message : — 

" Colonel Hayne, I am to acquaint you that in consequence of a 
petition signed by Governor Bull and many more, as also your prayer 
of yesterday and the humane treatment shown by you to the British 
prisoners who fell into your hands, you are respited for forty-eight 
hours." 

Colonel Hayne thanked the officer for the respite, as 
affording him the opportunity of seeing his children once 
more, which he so much desired. The major had gone 
but a few moments when he returned to say that he had 
forgot part of his message ; this was, says Hayne, that if 
General Greene "should offer to expostulate in my favor 
with the commanding officer, from that instant the respite 
would cease, and I should be ordered for immediate 
execution." ^ 

During the solemn period of his reprieve which ensued, 
the unfortunate gentleman bore himself with dignity and 
composure, and on his last evening declared that " he felt 
no more alarmed at death than at any other occurrence 
which is necessary and unavoidable." In the meanwhile 
the most earnest efforts had been made to move the two 
officers upon whom depended his life or death. Mrs. 
Peronneau, his sister-in-law, accompanied by liis children, 
waited on Lord Rawdon in the great parlor of the Brewton 

1 Ramsay's Eevolntionin So. Ca., vol. II, 511,517; Gibbes's Docm- 
mentaryHist. (1781-82), 111-112. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 395 

mansion, and on their bended knees implored him to spare 
their father and brother.^ Lieutenant-Governor Bull, who 
had recently returned from England, and a great number 
of inhabitants, both Loyalists and Americans, interceded 
for his life.^ There was one exception to this generous 
effort, and that was in the case of Sir Egerton Leigh, who, 
having been absent since the commencement of the 
war, and who for his conduct in the preceding trou- 
bles had received his knighthood in 1772, had now 
returned on the fleet which brought the timely reenforce- 
ment to the British cause in June.^ Lord Rawdon gives 
this statement of the origin and failure of the appeal. He 
states that, in compliance with his wishes, two gentlemen 
of known and just influence undertook to try whether a 
petition for pardon might not be procured from a respec- 
table number of Loyalists. That they first applied to Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Bull, who consented to sign the petition 
provided the attorney -general^ Sir Egerton Leigh, would 
do so. The answer of Sir Egerton Leigh was that he would 
hum his hand off rather than do an act so injurious to the king's 
service. That Lieutenant-Governor Bull's conditional prom- 
ise of course fell to the ground, though he subsequently, 
from some dupery practised upon his age, joined his name 
with those of certain of the most active and avowed 
partisans of the American cause.* A very different account 
of the affair was given upon the appearance of this state- 
ment by his lordship. It is that Governor Bull, who was 
in a very feeble condition, suffering from a chronic malady 
which had afflicted him for many years, caused himself to 

^Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 455. 
2 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ga., vol. 282. 

8 For the career and character of Sir Egerton Leigh, see Hist, of 
So. Ca. under Boy. Gov. (McCrady), 471, et seq. 

* Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), Appendix, 617. 



396 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

be carried in a litter to the quarters of Lord Rawdon, per- 
sonally to intercede for the pardon of Colonel Hayne, but 
that on his return home the dejection of his countenance 
too plainly spoke the ill success of his influence, and that he 
exclaimed, " The die is cast, the unfortunate prisoner must 
suffer, Lord Rawdon is inexorable. " ^ Both of these partic- 
ular and circumstantial statements were made many years 
after the event. Neither, therefore, is entitled to greater 
weight than the circumstances better established warrant. 
Judged in this way. Lord Rawdon's account cannot be 
accepted. A matter of small consequence, except that it 
furnishes somewhat of a test of the accuracy of his lord- 
shijj's memory in connection with these events, is the fact 
that he speaks of Sir Egerton Leigh as attorney-general, 
as if he then held that office ; when in fact he did not. 
James Simpson, the lieutenant of police under the 
military government, was at that time the attorney-gen- 
eral of the province. But besides the weight of authority 
against this story, — besides the fact that, though feeble in 
health, Governor Bull, who, as it has been remarked, had 
himself but recently returned from Europe, to which it 
may be added he soon again went, and lived there for ten 
years, was by no means so old a man as to have lost the 
full possession of mind and judgment, being at this time 
not more than seventy years of age, — the intrinsic evidence 
is clearly against it. Lord Rawdon's statement of his con- 
duct is itself inconsistent with it and is contradicted by 
the record. He denies that he had authority over Colonel 
Balfour, and claims that he suggested the court of inquiry 
to gain time. But the record shows tliat immediately 
upon the adjournment of the court. Colonel Hayne is 
informed by the town major of the sentence of execution 
" hy virtue of the authority ivith which the Commander-in- 
1 Execution of Colonel Hayne, Southern Bevieio, vol. I, 103, 1828. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 397 

chief and the commanding officer in Charleston are in- 
vested." He represents that he was instigating the 
petition for mercy while his adjutant informs the prisoner 
that the resolutions of the two officers " on this subject are 
fixed and unchangeable.'''' He represents that Governor 
Bull from old age was duped into signing a petition which 
all other Loyalists refused to do ; and yet his adjutant is 
instructed to inform the prisoner '■'■that in consequence of a 
petition signed by Governor Bull, and many more^'' he is 
granted a respite. His lordship is thus contradicted in 
every particular ; his denials and explanation fix all the 
more positively the responsibility for the execution. 

At three o'clock in the morning of August 1, Mr. Cooper, 
the town adjutant, came in and read the following written 
message, "Lord Rawdon and Colonel Balfour have con- 
sented to grant to Mr. Hayne a respite for forty-eight 
hours." His answer was that he thanked them. Colonel 
Hayne made one more request, and that was that his death 
might be that of a soldier; but this was not granted, 
though it appears that he was not informed that it would 
not be. During his respite he was now allowed to see his 
children and his friends ; and his few remaining hours were 
spent in their society and in the preparation of the state- 
ment and correspondence from which these facts are taken. 

On the morning of the fatal day, the 4th of August, on 
receiving his summons to proceed to the place of execu- 
tion, he delivered the statement and paper he had prepared 
to his oldest son, a youth of about thirteen years of age. 
" Present," said he, " these papers to Mrs. Edwards with 
my request that she should forward them to her brother 
in Congress. You will next repair to the place of execution, 
receive my body, and see it decently interred among my 
forefathers." The father and son then took a final leave. 
The colonel's arms were pinioned, and a guard placed 



398 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

round his person. The procession moved from the Ex- 
change — now the old Post-office, at the foot of Broad Street 
— in the forenoon of the 4th of August. The streets were 
crowded with thousands of spectators. Colonel Hayne 
walked to the place of execution with such firmness, com- 
posure, and dignity as to awaken the compassion and to 
command the respect of all. When the barrier of the 
town — the town gates ^ — was passed, the gibbet appeared 
in sight. To this moment he had hoped that his last request 
as to the mode of his execution would have been granted, 
and when he saw the instrument of ignominious death, for 
a moment he paused, but immediately recovering his wonted 
firmness, moved forward. As he did so a friend whispered 
his confidence " that he would exhibit an example of the 
manner in which an American can die." To this he 
answered with modesty and tranquillity, " I will endeavor 
to do so." Neither arrogating superior firmness nor betray- 
ing weakness, he ascended the cart, unsupported and 
unappalled. Upon some movement of the executioner, 
Colonel Hayne inquired what he wanted, and upon being 
informed that he wished to pull the cap over his eyes, the 
colonel replied, "I will save you that trouble," and adjusted 
it himself. Then, asked whether he wished to say anything, 
he answered, " I will only take leave of my friends and be 
ready." He then affectionately shook hands with three 
gentlemen, recommending his children to their care, and 
gave the signal for the cart to move.^ 

^Mr. Charles Fraser, in his Reminiscences, p. 22, writing in 1854, says, 
" I remember also two large brick pillars which stood in King Street 
between George and Liberty, the history of which I do not know, but 
remember they were town gates." Tradition holds that the place of 
execution was somewhere near where Pitt Street now reaches Vander 
Horst Street in Charleston. 

2 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Co., vol. 11, 282-284; Memoirs of the 
War of 1776 (Lee), 452-456. 

" After the execution his young son was permitted to carry his father's 



IN THE REVOLUTION 399 

The execution of Colonel Hayne aroused the utmost 
indignation throughout the American camp. The informa- 
tion of it was received by General Greene in a letter from 
Colonel Harden on the 10th of August, nearly a week 
after it had taken place. There had been charges and 
counter charges of ill treatment of prisoners passing 
between Marion and Balfour for some time.^ Marion, for 
injuries which he had received, had already vowed retalia- 
tion; and Colonel Hayne, being an officer of Harden's com- 
mand and therefore under Marion, Greene was anxious lest 
he should proceed at once to extremities in avenging his 
death. 2 Fortunately the messenger that brought the letter 
of Harden could not find Marion, and so took it at once to 
Greene, who was at the High Hills of Santee. The general 
immediately wrote to Marion to withhold action on his 
part, and informing him of the course he proposed to pur- 
sue. " You will see by Colonel Harden's letter," he wrote, 
" that the enemy have hanged Colonel Hayne ; don't take 
any measure in the matter towards retaliation, for I dont 
intend to retaliate on the Tory officers, but the British.''^ He 
informed Marion of his intention to demand the reasons of 
the colonel's being put to death, and if they were unsatis- 
factory, as he was sure they would be, and if they refused 
to make satisfaction, to publish his intention of giving no 
quarter to British officers of any rank that might fall into 
his hands.3 He wrote accordingly to Colonel Balfour, who 
replied that " the execution of Colonel Hayne took place 
by the joint order of Lord Rawdon and himself ; but in 

body and inter it at his plantation at Ponper (Pon Pon), which was done 
on Sunday evening last 9th." New Jersey Gazette, September 26 and 
October 10. Moore's Dianj, vol. II, 468. 

1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 172. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 189. 

^Gibhes''s Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 125 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, 
vol. II, 619. 



400 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

consequence of the most explicit directions of Lord Corn- 
wallis ' to put to death all those who should be found in 
arms after being at their own request received as subjects 
since the capitulation of Charlestown, and the clear con- 
quest of the Province in the summer of 1780, more 
especially such as have accepted of commissions or might 
distinguish themselves in inducing a revolt of this country.' 
To his lordship therefore as being answerable for the meas- 
ure the appeal will more properly be made." ^ General 
Greene wrote to Lord Cornwallis, but it does not appear that 
his lordship ever answered the letter addressed to him 
upon the subject.'-^ The sentiment of the army was impa- 
tient for immediate retaliation. Without a knowledge of the 
resolution of General Greene or of his correspondence, and 
surprised at his supposed hesitation, the officers of his army, 
on the 20th of August, addressed him a memorial, which 
was in the handwriting of Colonel Williams, urging 
retaliation, professing their consciousness of the danger to 
which it exposed them, and their readiness to encounter it. 
At the head of their list of self-devoted soldiers was the 
name of Isaac Huger; while William Washington's signing 
for himself and his officers closed it. The only known 
name of the army not upon it was that of Colonel Lee, and 
in justice to his reputation, says Johnson, it is proper to 
remark that he had for some days previous been detached 
to the banks of the Congaree.^ 

On the 26th General Greene issued the following procla- 
mation : * — 

" Whereas Colonel Isaac Hayne commanding a Regiment of Militia 
in the service of the United States was taken prisoner by a party of 

1 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ga., vol. II, 520; 3femoirs of War of 
1776 (Lee), 457 ; Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 133. 
■■2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 193. 
8 Ibid, 192-193. * Ibid, 190, 191. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 401 

British troops, and after a rigorous detention in tlie poorest prison at 
Charlestown was condemned and executed on the 4th of this month in 
the most cruel and unjustifiable manner, in open violation of the 
cartel agreed upon between the two armies for the release and excliange 
of all prisoners of war ; and it being no less the duty than the inclina- 
tion of the army to resent every violence offered to the good citizens 
of America, to discountenance all those distinctions they have 
endeavored to establish in making a difference between the various 
orders of men found under arms for the supj^ort of the independence 
of the United States ; and further considering that these violences are 
committed with a view of terrifying the good people, and by that 
means preventing them from acting in conformity with their political 
interest and private inclinations ; and that this method of trying and 
punishing in consequence of those distinctions is no less opposite to the 
spirit of the British, than it is inclusive of an im war ran table infringe- 
ment of all the laws of humanity, and the rights of the free citizens 
of the United States. 

" From these considerations I have thought proper to issue the 
present proclamation expressly to declare that it is my intention to 
make reprisals for all such inhuman insults as often as they take place. 
And whereas the enemy seem willing to expose the small number of 
the deceived and seduced inhabitants who are attached to their interest 
if they can but find an opportunity of sacrificing the great number 
who have stood forth in the defence of our cause, I further declare 
that it is my intention to take the officers of the regular forces and not the 
inhabitants who have joined their army for the objects of my reprisal. But 
while I am determined to resent every insult that may be offered to 
the United States for having maintained our independence, I cannot 
but lament the necessity I am under of having recourse to measures 
so extremely wounding to the sentiments of humanity, and so contrary 
to the principles on which I wish to conduct the war. Given," etc. 

All of which was more forcibly and tersely expressed in 
his letter to Marion, when he wrote, " / doii't intend to 
retaliate on the Tory officers; hut on the British.'^ But 
General Greene did not retaliate at all. For when the 
first burst of horror and indignation had subsided and 
reason asserted itself, the difficulties and complications of 
the case were realized. 

VOL. IV. — 2d 



402 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

The tragic circumstances of Colonel Hayne's case from 
its inception to his death, the cruel conditions under which 
he had given his allegiance to the King, his honorable 
conduct in adhering to his word under the strongest 
inducements to have renounced its obligation, his decision 
at last that he was released from its obligation, and the 
gallant and brilliant action with which he at once accom- 
panied that decision, the romantic incidents of his capture, 
his quiet, gentle, and dignified bearing throughout his im- 
prisonment and trial and while waiting only the pleasure 
of his judges as to his doom, his firm and heroic conduct 
in meeting the ignominious death to which he was devoted, 
all tended to excite the deepest interest and to call for the 
most heartfelt sympathy for the noble gentleman who thus 
died for his country. Colonel Hayne was indeed a martyr 
to its cause. But his martyrdom was not in the incidental 
circumstances of his death, however much these appeal to 
the nobler sentiments of humanity. It was rather that, 
though fully understanding the consequences of his action, 
he determined that, the British having themselves broken 
the term of his compact of allegiance, as he conceived, he 
would repudiate its bond and take the field, knowing that 
in doing so he could neither ask for nor expect any quarter 
if taken. In doing this, like Pickens, Hampton, Postell, 
and others, he ventured his life not only against the mili- 
tary but the civil power of the enemy ; and dared for his 
country's cause to die even upon the gibbet. 

The striking tragedy of Colonel Hayne's execution not 
only aroused the sympathies of all engaged in the cause 
of liberty in this country, but excited almost as much 
indignation in England. The subject was taken up in 
the House of Lords in the January following, and made 
there a party question. In the debate which then took 
place the Earl of Huntingdon, Lord Rawdon's uncle, in 



IN THE REVOLUTION 403 

answer to the demand for the production of the proceed- 
ings of the court before which Colonel Hayne had been 
given such trial as he had, explained that the papers had 
been thrown overboard previous to the packet being cap- 
tured that was bringing them to England. His lordship 
also made this statement as to the singular condition of 
the military command in South Carolina. He stated that 
Colonel Balfour was commandant of the town of Charles- 
town at the time in question, that Lord Rawdon had only 
a partial command, and that Colonel Gould, who com- 
manded the three regiments just arrived, was the senior of 
both. He gave the House this information, he said, not 
as an argument either in favor of Lord Rawdon or against 
him, but merely to put the House in possession of the 
facts. 

The Earl of Abingdon bitterly denounced the execution. 
"It is," said he, "the case of a cruel and barbarous murder 
of an individual. But what,-" he continued, "is this 
cruel and barbarous murder of an individual compared 
with the cruel and barbarous murders which the whole of 
the American war has occasioned ? What is this case when 
compared with that of a noble peer of this House solemnly 
protesting on the records of the House against the princi- 
ples of this war, and yet going forth himself, and in his 
own person, to counteract these principles and to perpetrate 
such acts as these ? " ^ 

The Duke of Manchester, commenting upon the fact 
that the idea of the court of inquiry was an afterthought, 
suggested subsequently to the intention of bringing 

1 Referring to Earl Cornwallis, who, in the House of Lords, opposed the 
ministerial action against Wilkes and in the case of the American col- 
onies. {Encyclopedia Britannica.) It is remarkable that both Lords Corn- 
wallis and Rawdon were at first in support of resistance on the part of 
the Americans. The language of Lord Rawdon was altogether favorable 
to the cause of liberty. (Garden's Anecdotes, 253.) 



404 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Hayne to trial in the usual form of a court-martial ; and 
upon the further fact that after all he was not executed in 
consequence of the decision of the court of inquiry, but 
in pursuance of a power in which the officers were vested, 
declared there must have been something very singular in 
the case of Hayne, or something precipitate on the part of 
Lord Rawdon and Colonel Balfour. This was a point he 
wished to have explained. In answer to this Lord Stor- 
mont, stating however his opinion with deference as he 
was no soldier, declared " he had always reckoned it a 
maxim established upon the most unquestioned authority 
that an officer having broken his parole who should after- 
wards fall in the hands of the enemy was deprived by his 
breach of faith of the advantage of a formal trial, and 
subjected to be executed instanter T 

The Earl of Shelburne (afterwards Marquis of Lans- 
downe) denied the doctrine. " The noble Lord in the 
green ribbon," he said, " had advanced a doctrine which to 
him seemed totally new. He had stated to their lordships 
that an officer who had broken his parole was liable to be 
put to death instanter without the form of a trial. This 
idea he considered as erroneous, and one which ought to 
be reprobated. He would not, however, dwell upon the 
subject ; a fact which had fallen from his lordship perhaps 
deserved a more serious consideration. It appeared very 
plainly from what he had said that in America the power 
of taking away the lives of the people was delegated by 
his Majesty to the Commander-in-chief, and by him dele- 
gated to the next officer in authority, and by him to his 
inferiors. Sir H. Clinton was the officer vested with the 
supreme authority in America. He intrusted the power 
reposed in him to Cornwallis, and he in his turn had trans- 
ferred it to Lord Rawdon and Colonel Balfour. His lord- 
ship begged to know by what authority so important a 



IN THE REVOLUTION 405 

jurisdiction over the lives of mankind was thus wantonly- 
delegated from one person to another ? " 

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Thurlow, is said to have had 
a great contempt for his audiences in the House of Peers, 
and to have reckoned often with daring confidence upon 
their ignorance. An instance of this is given in the 
Memoirs of Bishop Watson^ in which, with his usual un- 
scrupulous insolence, Thurlow bore down the bishop, 
insisting that a quotation by the latter from Grotius was 
erroneous, when it turned out, in fact, that the bishop was 
perfectly correct and he was wrong.^ But that was not 
the first time his lordship had misquoted the same author. 
It was in this debate that he did so ; but here his false 
quotation was not allowed to pass without exposure. In 
answer to the Earl of Shelburne he said, "He would 
now offer a word or two as to the justice of his (Hayne's) 
execution. He was no soldier, but he fancied he was 
not totally unequal to the task of comprehending an 
author whose opinions were universally assented to by 
all civilized nations ; and, of course, whose writings were 
deemed the true standard by which persons in military 
situations were to conduct themselves ; he meant that 
learned man, Grotius, who had written on the law of na- 
tions, necessarily including the law of war and open 
hostility which are particularly laid down in that cele- 
brated work." Here his lordship quoted several pas- 
sages from that author, and from Cocceius and Vattel, 
the two last of whom wrote much later than Grotius, in 
which he said it was clearly laid down that all prisoners, 
as among common enemies, when taken in battle are at 
the mercy of their captors, but that a more civilized and 
refined way of thinking had prevailed by the accepting 

1 Lives of the Lord Chancellors (Campbell) vol. VII, 162 ; Anecdotes of 
the Life of Bichard Watson^ vol. II, 359. 



406 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

surrender at discretion, or upon capitulation which entitled 
the prisoner to his life and to future release upon condi- 
tions ; hut then it was allowed universally^ and asserted ivith- 
out reserve^ that a priso7ier breaking his parole forfeited all 
title to mercy ^ and it was only necessary to prove his personal 
identity to subject him to death instanter. 

The absurdity of quoting Grotius, who wrote in 1623, 
more than a century and a half before, on this novel and 
anomalous subject, was at once exposed by the Earl of 
Effingham. This nobleman, after observing that the sum 
of the Lord Chancellor's information had been that Amer- 
ica was under martial law; that the same martial law 
vested prodigious authority in the commanding officers, 
and that the usual administration of the martial law had 
been of the most easy and liberal kind, having had no other 
rule than the appointing a court of inquiry, consisting of 
three officers of the provincial Loyalists who looked over 
the prisoners at any time brought before it by the King's 
forces, and whoever was by this new contrived court de- 
clared to have broken parole, was immediately ordered for 
execution ; thus proceeded : — 

" If this improvement upon the jus gentium had rested solely on the 
authority of the noble Lord, I should have left it to refute itself as I 
think it would have done by its manifest repugnancy to the common 
rights of mankind, and the consideration of the noble Lord being 
under no particular professional obligation to render himself master 
of the subject. But in the present case two of his Majesty's ministers 
have stepped forth and laid down some doctrines so contrary to what 
I take for truth, that I feel myself under an obligation to make some 
observations upon them. The noble Lord in the green i-ibbon has 
asserted that it is a known rule that a prisoner of war having broken 
his parole has thereby forfeited his life, and is to be executed like a 
spy without any other form than what may suffice to identify his per- 
son. This I will venture to deny ever to have been laid down in any 
book of authority or ever practised in civilized countries. The learned 
Lord indeed in confirming this doctrine has quoted Grotius. I wish 



IN THE REVOLUTION 407 

his lordship had been more explicit, for it is with great diffidence I 
can oppose my knowledge of Grotius to his lordship, and yet I am 
clear that Grotius never wrote one word about prisoners upon parole ; 
he never heard of such a thing. It is a very modern civility intro- 
duced uito some countries. And it more resembles what we call 
bail, than anything else ; and whoever runs away from it may be 
closely confined, but not put to death by any rule I ever heard," etc. ^ 

The motion for the production of the papers was defeated 
by a vote of nearly three to one. But the debate serves 
to show the views taken of the case in England. Lord 
Rawdon was surprised and mortified to find, on his return 
to Europe, how generally condemned as unpolitic and un- 
just was the execution of Colonel Hayne. It is evident 
that he smarted under reflections which his connection 
with the case had elicited. Nor is it creditable to him that, 
in order to avoid his share of the responsibility, he, both in 
private and public, endeavored to put the blame upon 
Balfour. When captured at sea by the French fleet and 
sent to France, he met at Paris a Carolina family with 
whom he had been previously intimate in Italy, and hear- 
ing in every society the severity towards Colonel Hayne 
reprobated, he insinuated, " that contrary to his opinion it 
had been urged and insisted upon by the commandant of 
Charlestown."2 His uncle, the Earl of Huntingdon, it 
will be observed, while declaring that he gave the informa- 
tion not as an argument either in favor of Lord Rawdon 
nor against him, but merely to put the House of Lords in 
possession of the facts, states that he was at the time 
ranked in command, not only by Colonel Balfour, but by 
Colonel Gould as well, clearly intimating thereby that his 
nephew was not responsible in the matter. How this sug- 
gestion aids Lord Rawdon's reputation will be judged by 

1 Parliamentary History, 1781 to 1782, vol. XXII, 963-984 ; Annual 
Register, 1782, vol. XXV. 
* Garden's Anecdotes, 254. 



408 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

those perusing the foregoing pages. An officer receiving 
a paper drawn by one of his staff at his own suggestion, 
addressed to him as " Commander-in-chief," can scarcely 
be heard to deny or qualify his action upon it as such. 
So sensitive was his lordship upon the subject, that he 
made a personal affair of the Duke of Richmond's speech 
in the House of Lords, in introducing an inquiry in regard 
to it, and succeeded in obtaining from that nobleman an 
apology on the floor of the House of Lords, in words dic- 
tated by himself.^ And yet afterward in a letter from 

'>■ Parliamentary History, supra Garden's Anecdotes, 253: "About this 
time his lordship's conduct in the affair already alluded to the execution 
of Colonel Hayne, was mentioned in such a manner as to give great um- 
brage — sufficient indeed to induce Lord Rawdon to call upon his Grace 
for an explanation. After several messages through the interference of 
friends the Duke of Richmond agreed to read such a recantation in the 
House of Lords as Lord Rawdon should think proper to dictate. 

" It has been a matter of doubt among persons of cool and deliberate 
reflection, whether the peremptory step which his lordship took on this 
occasion was more advantageous to his character than a thorough inves- 
tigation of the business might have proved in Parliament." — British Mili- 
tary Library, London (1799), vol. I, 86. The Duke of Richmond's con- 
duct upon this occasion, it was said, laid him under very general suspicion 
of want of courage in not standing to his charge. ( Wraxall's Memoirs, vol. 
II, 499, 500. ) " The Duke of Richmond," says Garden, "called the attention 
of the House of Lords to the inhuman execution of Colonel Hayne, the 
particulars of which had been forwarded to him by Mr. John Bowman. 
Lord Rawdon, arriving in Europe, denied the justice of the charge, threat- 
ening to call on the Duke for personal satisfaction unless an immediate 
apology should remove the stain from his injured honor. The Duke knew 
full well the justice of the charge. lie was personally acquainted with 
Mr. Bowman, had often sought information from him relative to Ameri- 
can affairs, and had never had any cause to question his veracity ; but his 
courage at the moment must have been at a low ebb. He hesitated, in- 
deed, on the inconsistency of his conduct, but ultimately averred ' that 
he had received his information from one Bowman whom he knew noth- 
ing about. He was, he confessed, rash in his charge, and solicited par- 
don for having made it.' " — Garden's Anecdotes, 253. Mr. John Bowman 
was a highly educated and accomplished gentleman who had recently settled 



IN" THE REVOLUTION 409 

which frequent quotations have hitherto been made, he 
again endeavors to shield himself from the responsibility, 
upon the plea of his inferiority in rank to Colonel Balfour. 

But after all, notwithstanding the intense feeling which 
this unfortunate affair excited at home, and the indigna- 
tion with which it was regarded by all the friends of 
America in Europe, notwithstanding the bitter denuncia- 
tions with which it has been treated by the historians of 
America, if a state of war warrants the infliction of death 
whenever necessary to secure its ultimate object, it can 
scarcely be questioned that it was a military necessity in 
this instance. It was not only the case of Colonel Hayne, 
however pitiful that may appear. It was the vital ques- 
tion, to the British rule, as to the condition of those in the 
country of which the Whigs were now rapidly regaining 
the possession, who had given their paroles or taken pro- 
tection. Were these persons released from the binding 
efficacy of the pledges given by them because the Ameri- 
cans had recovered possession, though temporary it might 
be, of the territory in which they lived ? If so, every 
raiding force was a recruiting party to the rebels. It was 
the practical reversal of Sir Henry Clinton's policy of con- 
quering America by the Americans. It was conquering 
the British by the means of these reclaimed subjects. An 
example was necessary. Postell had been in close con- 
finement since his capture in January ; but his confinement 
had not arrested the conduct of others when opportunity 
presented of resuming their arms. 

It must be observed also that Colonel Hayne's execu- 
tion was not in violation of the cartel agreed upon for the 
exchange of prisoners, as asserted in General Greene's 

in South Carolina. He married a daughter of Thomas Lynch, member of 
the Continental Congress, and sister of Thomas Lynch, Jr., the signer of 
the Declaration of Independence. 



410 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

proclamation. The cartel agreed to in May was most 
general in its terms, and, without specific provision to that 
effect, must have been construed as relating only to such 
prisoners as had already been captured on both sides. 
And so it was construed and acted upon in that negotiated 
by the commissaries on the 22d of June, which was ex- 
pressly limited to those taken from the commencement of 
the war to the 15th of June.^ Colonel Hayne was not cap- 
tured until the 8th of July, three weeks after, and did 
not therefore come within its terms. Moreover, the Brit- 
ish had expressly refused to recognize prisoners of this 
description as coming within the terms of the cartel. 
Postell's case, it is true, had been referred for some pur- 
pose, not disclosed, to General Greene, but he was still 
held as a close prisoner. Balfour, in a letter to General 
Greene, dated August 18, points this out in regard to 
Postell's case, and justly expresses his surprise that a 
claim could be made for the exchange of Mr. Cooper, who 
had been taken on the 17th of July.^ 

Strange to say, in all the bitter controversy in regard to 
the execution of Colonel Hayne, the British authorities 
failed to point out that the Americans themselves estab- 
lished the precedent, justifying the execution of those 
taken under similar circumstances. Not to dwell upon 
the general massacre of the prisoners after the battle of 
King's Mountain, one instance would at least have justi- 
fied their conduct in Colonel Hayne's case. One Green, 
taken there, was tried before a drum-head court-martial, — 
if the court could be dignified even by that name, — upon 
the charge that he had violated the oath he had taken as 
an officer to support the government of North Carolina 
and of the United States by accepting a British commis- 
sion and fighting on that side at King's Mountain. Some 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 123. » Ibid., 128. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 411 

of the British officers remonstrated at the course taken, 
when Colonel Cleveland, then in command, cut them 
short, saying, " Gentlemen, you are British officers and 
shall be treated accordingly — therefore, give your paroles 
and march off immediately ; the other person is a subject of 
the State." The prisoner was accordingly condemned to 
be executed the next morning. ^ Fortunately, he escaped 
during the night, which probably accounts for the over- 
looking of the case ; but it none the less closes the mouths 
of Americans who would represent the conduct of the 
British officers in Hayne's case as without precedent in its 
barbarity. 

The question as to the legality of the proceedings under 
which Colonel Hayne was executed was a proper one for 
discussion in the British Parliament, for it was one in- 
volving the due administration of the law of the king- 
dom, whether at home or in a foreign country covered 
for the time by its flag. It was, so to speak, a domes- 
tic question. But it was not one in which Americans 
claiming to be citizens of another government could join 
in discussing. The only question which they had to con- 
sider was as to the right of the British authorities, be they 
who they might, to inflict death upon one claiming to be 
an American citizen. It was in the execution itself, not 
in the manner in which they proceeded to the execution, 
that the country at large was interested. It was not con- 
sistent to repudiate allegiance to the British government 
and then complain that the prisoner was not tried accord- 
ing to British laws. Meddling with the discussion upon 
this point deprives Colonel Hayne of the honor of martyr- 
dom, to which he was justly entitled. For if his execution 
was a mere accident of his falling into the hands of cruel 

1 Gordon's Am. Eevolution, vol. Ill, 466-467 ; Eing''s 3Iountain and 
its Heroes, 853. 



412 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

men, who, disregarding their own laws, put him to an 
unexpected death, however much we may pity the individ- 
ual, it is, in the end, only our pity which is called for. But 
if Colonel Hayne, fully aware of his doom, if in the chances 
of battle he should be taken, nevertheless regarding him- 
self honorably released from the allegiance he had sub- 
scribed, determined to face even an ignominious death for 
the cause of his country, then was he a martyr indeed, and 
is entitled, not only to our pity, but to our admiration for 
his heroism. Such, indeed, we submit the case of Colonel 
Hayne to have been. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

1781 

General Greene had recrossed the Congaree on the 
night of the 13th of July and taken post on the High Hills 
of Santee, where with his continentals he went into a camp 
of rest or of " Repose," as it was called, while Sumter with 
Marion and Lee made their incursion into the Low-Country.^ 
Greene himself, however, had not been idle during the 
repose of his troops. He had been busy appealing to 
Washington, appealing to Congress, appealing to North 
Carolina, for assistance and reenforcements. Such of the 
Pennsylvania line as had reassembled after its mutiny in 
New Jersey on the night of the 1st of January, and had 
been recruited, amounting to about one thousand men, had 
been ordered by Washington about the middle of February 

1 The last reference to General Greene's connection with the firm of 
Barnabas Deane & Co. is found in a letter to Colonel Wadsworth written 
from the "High Hills of Santee" on July 18, 1781, in which he asks: 
"How goes on our commerce? Please to give me an account by the 
Table [i.e. in cipher] as letters are frequently intercepted." In this letter 
he gives a humorous sketch of the Southern campaign — the only touch 
of humor found in his letters : "Our army has been frequently beaten, and 
like the stock-fish grows the better for it. . . . I had a letter some time since 
from Mr. John TurnbuU (M'Fingal) wherein he asserts that -with all my 
talents for war I am deficient in the great art of making a timely retreat. 
I hope I have convinced the world to the contrary for there are few gen- 
erals that have run oftener or more lustily than I have done ; but I have 
taken care not to run too far, and commonly have run as fast forward as 
backward to convince our enemy that we were like a crab that could run 
either way." — Magazine of American History (Lamb), vol. XII, 27. 

413 



414 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to join the Southern army, and a detachment under the 
Marquis de Lafayette had also been directed to proceed 
thither. But these had been detained in Virginia upon the 
apprehension of the invasion of that State, and had of course 
been prevented from coming farther when Cornwallis had 
moved again towards Virginia, advancing from Wilming- 
ton, to which he had retreated after the battle of Guilford 
Court-house. But Lafayette, to whom the defence of 
Virginia had now been committed, having reason to believe 
that Cornwallis was about to take shipping to New York, 
had authorized General Wayne in command of the Penn- 
sylvania line to resume his original design of marching to 
the relief of Greene. The latter general was therefore 
anxiously awaiting the arrival of this reenforcement, when 
he learned that Wayne's march had been again counter- 
manded, as the British transports had been recalled, and 
that the fleet had proceeded up to Yorktown. This was his 
first disappointment at this time. The next was in the 
loss of a body of 150 troops raised by Colonel Jackson in 
Georgia, the whole of whom were taken with smallpox 
nearly at the same time, fully 50 dying, and the rest being 
too much reduced by the consequences of the disease to 
be in a state for service. Then, while he was retreating 
from Ninety Six, he had been assured that he might rely 
for support on the militia of Mecklenburg and Rowan 
counties of North Carolina, and 3500 men had been prom- 
ised him ; but when he had halted in his retreat and turned 
again towards the enemy, the martial ardor of these coun- 
ties had in a measure at least subsided upon the removal 
of the immediate danger of their invasion, and less than 
500 now joined him. So, too, upon his appeal to Shelby 
and Sevier, the heroes of the year before, they had promised 
him a reenforcement of 700 of their select followers ; and 
with these they had actually advanced far on their way to 



. IN THE REVOLUTION 415 

join him when intelligence reached them that he (Greene) 
had resumed the offensive, and had advanced towards 
Orangeburgh, and rumor added that he had driven the 
enemy into Charlestown, upon which Shelby and Sevier 
wrote that, as they supposed his recent successes had ren- 
dered their services unnecessary, they had returned and 
disbanded. 1 

Greene had also conjured other causes of complaint 
against Sumter. It is disagreeable to the student of history, 
alike whether he be author or reader, to have his atten- 
tion arrested and diverted from the contemplation of great 
public events by the small interfering personal jars of the 
great men who are the actors in such affairs. But these 
personal and otherwise insignificant quarrels cannot, never- 
theless, be disregarded, for they often, as in this case, enter 
largely into and affect public affairs in a manner alto- 
gether disproportioned to their own relative importance. 
And so it is that we must now turn again aside to learn 
somewhat of the merits of the further differences between 
the leaders in the war in South Carolina. Greene found, 
he claimed, new causes of complaint against Sumter, and 
Lee stood by to aggravate their differences. 

When Sumter had returned from his expedition to the 
Low-Country he had been directed to ascend the Congaree 
and to take post at Friday's Ferry, leaving Marion to take 
charge of the country on the Santee. Having been called 
to the upper part of the State in looking for supplies for 
his brigade, the command of his men in the field was com- 
mitted to Colonel Wade Hampton. While thus away 
from the immediate command of his corps, Sumter's con- 
tinued sufferings from his wound and general state of his 
health compelled him to rest for a while at a plantation 
near Charlotte. Colonel Henderson, who, it will be recol- 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 208. 



416 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

lected, had greatly distinguished himself during the siege 
of Charlestown the year before, had, it happened, just been 
released from Haddrell's Point on the general exchange 
of prisoners, and reporting for duty, ranking Hampton, he 
was put in command of Sumter's brigade over that oiScer. 
General Greene, it is said, calculated at this time on a per- 
manent disciplined force under Sumter of four hundred or 
five hundred. Upon what basis or grounds this calcula- 
tion was made is not stated. It is not surprising that 
Colonel Henderson was disappointed when, upon assuming 
command, he found, as he states, but two hundred men fit 
for duty — how many present he considered unfit, or for 
what cause, is not stated. How Sumter, any more than 
Marion, neither of whom had any government behind them 
to bring out their men or to keep them in the field when 
there, was to be held personally responsible for having or 
not having any given number of either volunteers or State 
troops, it is difficult to conceive. But just as Greene had 
blamed Sumter on his return from North Carolina because 
he had not found the force which, upon his own misconcep- 
tion of Sumter's letter, he had expected, so now he turned 
his wrath on that unfortunate officer ; and as before he had 
indulged his resentments, not directly to General Sumter 
himself, but in his communication to Colonel Lee and to 
others, so too, now, instead of addressing Sumter upon the 
subject, General Greene's feelings at the time, as his 
biographer expresses it, were vented to Colonel Hender- 
son. Sumter's offence this time, according to Greene's 
biographers,^ was that when Henderson assumed command 
he received a communication from Sumter expressing his 
wish " that the troops should have a respite from service 
until the first of October, and as many of them furloughed 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 210, 212 ; Great Commanders Series, 
General Greene (Greene), 215. 



IN THE EBVOLUTION 417 

home from time to time as the service would admit of, and 
that Colonel Henderson should apply to General Greene 
for that purpose, at the same time ordering that the horses 
of the brigade should be sent into the river swamps to 
pasture and committed to the care of detachments of 
militia." Henderson, who had been cooped up at Had- 
drell's Point for fourteen months, and was burning for an 
opportunity of distinguishing himself at the head of a 
band which had become famous while he was a prisoner, 
was naturally disappointed at the suggestion, and warmly 
and impatiently protested against it. " Have I come here," 
he wrote, " only to furlough a parcel of troops ? and that 
too when the enemy is at our door, and their horses to be 
guarded by militia? No readier way to dismount [dis- 
band ? ] them could be devised." ^ 

Whether wise or unwise in itself, it will be observed 
that Sumter's communication was but a suggestion to 
General Greene himself, for in it Sumter requests Hender- 
son to apply to the general for permission. The sending 
of the horses into the swamps for pasture was dependent 
upon Greene allowing the men to be furloughed. This he 
could at once refuse and end the matter ; or if he had any 
reflections to make, Sumter was himself within reach and, 
though sick and suffering, was at that time in constant 
communication with himself and Governor Rutledge. But 
instead of addressing Sumter, if he must write at all upon 
the subject, General Greene again, against all military pro- 
priety — to say nothing more — wrote to Sumter's subor- 
dinate, Henderson, on the 16th of August, criticising his 
commander in the severest terms. 

" I received," he wrote, " your favor of the 14th inclosing General 
Sumter's order for the disbanding of his brigade — for I can consider 
it in no other light. What can be his reason for such an extraordi- 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 211. 

VOL. IV. — 2e 



418 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

nary measure I cannot imagine ; nor can I conceive how he could 
tliink of taking such a step without consulting me or obtaining my 
consent for the purpose. If he supposes himself at liberty to employ 
those troops independently of the Continental army, it is time he 
should be convinced to the contrary. It is true I have granted eveiy 
indulgence to those troops and given the General a latitude to act 
much at discretion. But this I did from a persuasion that his own 
ambition would prompt him to attempt everything that his force 
could effect; and it was never meant or intended to have any opera- 
tions when the General was not in the field. By a measure of this 
kind the country will be left ojjen for the enemy to ravage, and the 
Continental army exposed to any attack which the enemy may 
think proper to attempt while those troops are at home on furlough. 
. . . Upon the whole, sir, I cannot persuade myself that General 
Sumter gave himself sufficient time to trace out the consequence he 
recommends, or rather orders, to take place. Be that as it may, I can 
by no means give my consent to it, and therefore you will not fur- 
lough a man or officer unless for some particular reason ; and you 
will give positive orders to have the whole collected as fast as pos- 
sible and every man at home called to the field as soon as may be 
who are not employed as artificers, " etc.^ 

It will be observed that General Greene speaks of Sum- 
ter's having disbanded his brigade, adding, however, " for 
I can consider it in no other light," and upon this histo- 
rians have generally assumed that Sumter had actually 
done so. Let us see if this charge was just. 

On the 27th of July Major Burnet, aide-de-camp to Gen- 
eral Greene, wrote to Sumter, by the general's direction, 
informing him that he had received intelligence which 
rendered it necessary for Sumter to take position at the 
Congaree, and to remove all grain from the south side of 
the river ; that it was probable the enemy might make an 
attempt to reestablish a post at that place before he could 
remove the corn.^ Greene himself, it seems, wrote also to 

1 Sumter MSS., supra. 

2 Sumter's letters, Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charles- 
ton, 1899, Appendix, 122. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 419 

the same effect, for on the 30th of July Sumter replies, 
acknowledging the receipt of the two letters, and reporting 
his movements in obedience to them, and adding, " Agree- 
able to your directions, have ordered the militia of my 
brigade to hold themselves in readiness to march at the 
shortest notice." ^ Continuing, Sumter writes in further 
reply to Greene's letter : — 

" With respect to drafting or engaging the militia to serve three 
or four months, notwithstanding the number required might be small, 
yet I doubt the measure would not take, as the law requires them to 
serve but two months, and short as the time is they seldom stay one- 
half of the time. My brigade turned out tolerable well upon the late 
occasion, but discovering the indolence of their neighbours and that 
the people of the adjacent states made them complain of injustice in 
point of service, and therefore uneasy to go home — in which by one 
means or another they are all gratified." 

General Greene received this letter, and replies to it by 
letter of the 1st of August, in which, after discussing the 
enemy's movements, he writes : ^ — 

" Governor Rutledge is arrived and I hope will take measures for 
regulating the militia upon a proper footing & also for raising Con- 
tinental and State troops for a longer time than those engaged are 
serving with you. Something is necessary to be done to put a stop 
to the horrid practice of plundering." 

Immediately after this correspondence, Sumter's con- 
tinued sufferings from his wound required his temporary 
retirement, whereupon he wrote the letter to Henderson 
which Greene so censured. There was surely nothing in 
his correspondence with Greene himself that could be con- 
strued into disbanding his command, nor was it so con- 
strued. He writes to Greene complaining that his militia 
would not stay over two months, which was the term 

1 Sumter's letters, Nightingale Collection, Tear Book, City of Charles- 
ton, 1889, Appendix, 51, 62. 

2 Md., 122, 123. 



420 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

required by the Acts of Assembly. And, strange to say, 
Judge Johnson, who so willingly joins Greene in his con- 
demnation of Sumter for his supposed dismission of his 
men, thus tells of the retirement of Marion and his brigade 
at the same time. He says that immediately after the 
battle of Quinby Bridge, Marion retired to undergo one 
of those transformations to which he in common with other 
State commanders was constantly subjected, and he explains 
that by the State law the time of the militia service was 
but two months, and that, notwithstanding the prostration 
of civil government, that was still the law under which tlie 
men were called into the service, and that as often as the 
two months expired Marion had to retire until he could 
get a new set of men.^ But if Marion had to retire for 
this purpose, should Sumter be blamed for having to do 
likewise ? 

At the battle of Quinby Bridge, it may be remembered, 
Sumter's and Marion's men together did not amount to more 
than 450. In his report Sumter states "that General 
Marion had but a few men with him, the remains (?) 
breaking off, which has furnished a pretext with my 
brigade that they ought to go home also — some has taken 
this liberty — I had a desire of employing for a few days 
upon another tour before they was discharged." ^ Sumter 
had in the battle of Quinby Bridge six regiments and 
Marion four. Taylor's regiment, so-called, numbered but 
45 ; taking this as somewhat of a test, we may not be far out 
of the way in assuming that Sumter had in that engage- 
ment 300, and Marion 150. But while he reported that 
many of Marion's men went off, and some of his also, yet he 
was able to report, on the 30th of July, that in complying 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 177. 

2 Sumter's letters, Nightingale Collection, Year Book, City of Charles- 
ton, Appendix, 49. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 421 

with General Greene's order to take position at Friday's 
Ferry, that all his best mounted state troops, except those 
on detached duty, had passed the river to the number of 230. 
This included probably Henry Hampton's regiment, which 
had not been with Sumter at Quinby Bridge. Sumter, 
therefore, when he left the brigade to look after his supplies, 
and turned over the command to Wade Hampton, had left 
it as strong as it was at that battle. What happened to it 
in the two weeks while under Wade Hampton's command 
to reduce its number — if its number was reduced — we do 
not know, but surely it had not disbanded. 

From his sick-bed he had written to Colonel Henderson 
suggesting that, now Greene's army was going into a camp 
of repose, it would be a favorable time to furlough some of 
his men from time to time ; and upon this General Greene, 
whose hostility to him was day by day more apparent, 
seizes to charge him with insubordination, and as one of 
his biographers informs us contemplated bringing him to 
immediate trial. ^ But on reflection, we are told, he saw 
that that would introduce dissension in the State, 
when he needed every available assistance. It was indeed a 
wise second thought. Was Sumter to be arrested and 
tried because he was so sick and suffering from his wounds 
as to be unfit for duty? Where were Marion's men at this 
time, when Sumter was to be arrested and tried for asking 
that his might be furloughed from time to time ? They 
had scattered, and were recruiting for one of their most 
brilliant dashes, for which they were to receive the thanks 
of Congress ! 

A few lines of courteous reply to Colonel Henderson, 

firmly refusing the application made by him at General 

Sumter's suggestion, was all that was needed or properly 

justified. But unfortunately it was General Greene's 

1 Great Commauders Series, General Greene (F. V. Greene). 



422 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

habit to discuss and criticise the conduct of oflScers to 
their subordinates in command. General Sumter seems 
to have heard indirectly something of this attack upon 
him, and to have written to Governor Rutledge, who was 
at Camden, upon the subject, for the Governor replies on 
the 4th of September: ^ — 

" I rec'd yoiu's of the 1st instant last night after closing my letter of 
yesterday's date to which I refer as an answer to the several parts of 
your letter to which it applies. You have been misinformed with 
respect to any complaint against you having been made to me, unless 
it is the petition from Bratton's Regiment, and as to that, you see I 
have refer'd the matter to yourself, assuring the person [MS. illegible] 
who brought it that I had no doubt of their receiving justice from 
your hands. If any complaints had been made I certainly would have 
made it known to you and to no one else until I heard what you had 
to say about it. Candour, justice to your merits & services would 
require & my own disinclination to credit any matter to your preju- 
dice would lead me to take such a step & I should most certainly have 
suspended my judgment or even suspicion of improper conduct until 
I had heard from you on the matter." 

Whether intentionally so or not, this letter of his Excel- 
lency the Governor was a severe commentary upon that of 
General Greene to Colonel Henderson. But was there 
anything so unreasonable in General Sumter's request at 
this time that his followers should have a respite from 
service and " as many of them furloughed from time to 
time as the service would admit of^f It will be observed 
that Sumter did not ask, as Greene puts it, that all his 
brigade should be furloughed, but only as many as the 
service would allow. It was therefore in the end to rest 
with General Greene himself to say how many at a time, 
if any, could be spared. 

But Sumter's conduct has been severely criticised for 
even asking for the relief of his men at a time when he 

1 Sumter MSS. 



IN THE EEVOLITTIOK 423 

knew that General Greene was expecting active service, 
and to sustain the charge a letter from Greene to him of the 
24th of July is quoted, in which Greene had written, "As 
soon as reenforcements arrive and the troops have had a 
little relaxation we will draw our forces to a point and 
attack the enemy wherever he may be found." ^ But this, 
it will be observed, was written to Sumter just after his 
return from the expedition to the Low-Country, and it 
expressly deferred the proposed movement until the 
arrival of reenforcements which were then expected, but 
which never came ; and after, also, the troops had " had a 
little relaxation." But it is said that Greene had aofain 
written to Sumter on the 28th, " Care should be taken to 
refresh your cavalry as fast as possible, as we shall no 
doubt have severe duty m a few days^ But Sumter's 
suggestion for furloughing his men was made two weeks 
after this, when all the conditions had been changed, and 
the apprehended occasion of severe duty had passed, and 
when Greene himself had settled down on the High Hills of 
Santee in a "camp of repose "and rest for the remainder of 
the summer. For, strange to say. Judge Johnson, Greene's 
apologist, while discussing this matter and condemning 
Sumter for wishing at this time to rest and furlough his 
men, again and again speaks of Greene's camp on the 
High Hills of Santee as a " Camp of Repose," in which a 
few weeks' rest was necessary to relieve the American 
army after its exertion. Indeed, he heads his chapter of 
the time Camp of Repose on the High Hills of Santee.^ 
The camp occupied, he says, a healthy, pleasant, and abun- 
dant station, while the posts of the enemy were wasting 
with disease. There was, he says, at this time no prospect 
of the enemy's being reenforced, he had been driven from 
the country where he could recruit, had manifested no 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 210. 2 7^,^-^?., 179, 185, 189. 



424 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

disposition for acting, and the swollen rivers from recent 
rains precluded all possibility of movements. Lord 
Rawdon had sailed for England on the 21st of August, 
and Colonel Stuart, upon whom the command of the 
British army in the field devolved upon his lordship's 
retirement, had moved up from Orangeburgh towards 
McCord's Ferry, but he had halted and gone into camp 
amidst the hills near the confluence of the Congaree and 
the Wateree. The two armies lay there, almost in sight 
of each other, but with two broad, deep rivers between 
them. The heat of the weather was excessive ; both 
armies had suffered severely in the movements of June 
and July, but especially the newly arrived British regu- 
lars ; and as in the latter part of August and beginning of 
September the climate of that part of the country is at its 
worst, as if by mutual consent, says Johnson, military 
operation was for a while suspended. ^ At what better 
time, then, could Sumter ask for rest for his men and horses 
than while Greene's Continentals had gone into a camp of 
repose, and the enemy had settled down for the summer? 
Were the partisan bands and State troops to be awake 
while the Continentals slept? 

General Sumter's men consisted, it will be borne in 
mind, of two classes, (1) of those volunteers under Lacey, 
"Winn, Bratton, Hill, Taylor, and formerly of Henry Hamp- 
ton, who had been with him from the first, coming and going 
as the necessities of the times and the maintenance of the 
lives of their families demanded — " the unpaid gentlemen 
of Carolina." These, besides their heroic services of the 
last year, had now been constantly in the field since the 
first of the present. They had been in the campaign with 
Sumter in January, February, and March, while Greene 
was in North Carolina, had come out again in April when 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 206. 



IN THE KEVOLUTIOK 425 

Greene returned to the State, and had since been continu- 
ally in the field. They were exhausted and needed rest, 
both men and horses. (2) To these were added the new 
regiments of Mydelton, Wade Hampton, and Henry Hamp- 
ton, and one now which Henderson himself Avas attempting 
to raise, enlisted under the scheme proposed by Sumter of 
payment in kind, to wit, negroes and supplies taken from 
the enemy. A more vicious scheme, as we have before 
observed, and the evils of which Sumter himself recognized, 
could scarcely have been devised, one which not even the 
high character of the field officers selected to organize the 
regiments could redeem. It incited plunder and aroused 
discontent when plunder was prohibited. All accounts 
agree as representing its practical working as most unfortu- 
nate. And among its worst features was that its practice 
extended not only to other troops, but to the lower classes 
of the people among whom the troops were quartered. 
Colonel Wade Hampton thus writes on the 27th of July, 
from Friday's Ferry : ^ — 

" The situation in which I found this neighborhood the day after 
I had the honor of seeing you is truly to be lamented. Almost every 
person who remained in this settlement after the army marched 
seems to have been combined in committing robberies, the most base 
and inhuman that ever disgTaced mankind. 

" Colonel Taylor who had arrived here a few days before me, had 
apprehended a few of the most notorious of these offenders, whilst 
the most timid of those who remained were busily employed in col- 
lecting and carrying into North Carolina and Virginia the very 
considerable booty they had so unjustly acquired. The more daring, 
but equally guilty part of this banditti seemed to threaten immediate 
destruction (by murder, etc.) to those who might presume to call the 
conduct of them or tlieir accomplices into question. Matters becom- 
ing thus serious made it necessary that something decisive should 
take place immediately. 

" With a few of the State troops and more of the militia who had 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 186. 



426 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

spirit or inclination to engage in it we have secured all of those 
wretches that can be found, but we find a number of them, on find- 
ing matters more likely to terminate against them, have taken their 
flight towards the northward," etc. 

Colonel Henderson's career up to the capture in Charles- 
town had been with the Continentals or Regulars. He had 
entered the service as major of the Second Regiment of 
Riflemen under Sumter as lieutenant-colonel, which regi- 
ment after Sumter's resignation he had commanded, as 
the Sixth South Carolina Continental Regiment. Accus- 
tomed in this service to the strictest military discipline, 
he had no patience with the condition of the command 
over which he was now put, composed of a few purely 
volunteer soldiers, and the rest neither volunteers nor 
regulars. In this state of mind he thus reports to Gov- 
ernor Rutledge : ^ — 

" On my arrival to take command of them I found them the most 
discontented set of men I ever saw, both men and officers ; a few 
individuals excepted who regardless of any pecuniary consideration 
are determined to serve their country. The thirst after plunder that 
seems to prevail among the soldiery makes the command almost 
intolerable. This circumstance is most disagreeable, as this infamous 
practice seems to be countenanced by too many officers. Until some 
very severe examples are made very little credit can be expected 
from them. The men are likely and brave, and want nothing but 
service and discipline to make them truly valuable ; but this is impos- 
sible to bring about unless the necessary assistance is given by officers, 
most of them having no more idea of subordination than a set of raw 
militia." 

Rut what else was to be expected of a body raised as 
this was? It must be borne in mind that there was no 
government in South Carolina at this time. Governor 
Rutledge was about to return to the State, but had not yet 
arrived. At the time Sumter fell upon this plan, which he 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 211. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 427 

did with Greene's concurrence, the Governor himself was 
out of the State, nor was there any money, Continental or 
State, with which to pay the troops. It was a measure 
which Sumter himself characterized as " truly disagreeable, 
such as can only be justified by our circumstances and the 
necessity of the case." General Greene had been pressing 
for an organized body of troops to remain in the field for a 
given time. But he had no money with which to pay men 
for such service, nor supplies with which to support them. 
The truth is that the whole army. Continental and State 
troops, in South Carolina was living by plunder upon 
friends or foes under the name of impressment or spoils, the 
difference being that the State troops, being mounted and 
engaged upon raiding services, had better opportunities of 
appropriating the spoils to themselves. But whether wise or 
unwise, the contract with the State troops, as they were 
designated, was payment in kind from the spoils taken from 
the enemy, and " salvage," as it was called, from property 
of friends which could be rescued. They had been en- 
listed on these terms with the concurrence of General 
Greene. And it so happened that the negroes and stores 
which had been captured during the active operations of 
the last few months had been hurried to North Carolina 
for safety, and then distribution was to take place there. 
It can be readily imagined, therefore, the impatience of 
this class of troops, a considerable number of whom were 
from North Carolina, to obtain furloughs to secure respec- 
tive shares of their compensation, and the restive and 
mutinous condition of those who were not permitted to go. 
What more opportune time could have been selected for 
the relief of the one class, the volunteer partisan followers 
of Sumter, or more necessary for the fulfilment of the 
terms of enlistment of the other, it is difficult to conceive. 
If Sumter had been fully aware of what was going on at 



428 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

headquarters, and the manner in which he was discussed 
in the correspondence between Greene and Lee, and of 
Greene's declared sentiments in regard to him, he might 
well have claimed in the language of the king of Israel of 
old, " Consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel 
against me," for Greene was at this time, with Lee, privately 
nursing still another grievance against him. He was now, 
at the instigation of Lee, charging to Sumter's account the 
burning of Georgetown. On the 29th of July, Colonel 
Lee wrote to General Greene : — 

" I at this moment learn by certain authority that General Sumpter 
has detached Captain Davis to Georgetown to seize for public use tlie 
goods of every sort that may be found. It seems that the Tories left 
much linen cloth &c. &c. in the hands of Whigs on the evacuation of 
that place, and that these goods are now making their appearance for 
sale. Your officers are naked and I presume no order of men have 
greater claim to your attention." ^ 

The only plausible cause, it was said, ever given by the 
enemy for the destruction of the place was " that the Whigs 
were about to draw from it supplies for their army " ; that 
the raking of the streets by the fire from a galley whilst 
the town was consumed was to prevent the merchants from 
saving their goods ; that it was known that that place 
had begun to open a trade with Havana, and that fast sail- 
ing boats did afterwards actually contribute much to sup- 
ply the wants of the army through this port ; that General 
Greene was making arrangements at the time for drawing 
by purchase from Georgetown supplies to a considerable 
amount ; that Captain Conyers was detached for tliat pur- 
pose, and arrived only in time to witness the melancholy 
conflagration. In short, most of the town was burnt because 
of Sumter's order to Captain Davis.^ 

When Judge Johnson wrote he had only the letter of 

1 Johnson's Life of Green, vol. II, 215. 2 j^jY?., 216, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 429 

Lee to Greene which he quotes as authority for the fact 
that Sumter had sent Captain Davis upon such an errand, 
and so only hypothetically condemns Sumter if Lee's charge 
was true. There is no doubt that Sumter did send Cap- 
tain Davis for the purpose. Nor was there at the time 
any conceahnent or mystery about the matter, Sumter 
reporting it to General Greene.^ The original order is still 
extant in the possession of a descendant of Captain Davis, 

and is as follows : — 

" Camp at Great Savannah, 

" 25 July, 1781. 

" Dear Sir : With a detachment of the State troops under your 
command you are requested forthwith to proceed to George Town 
with all expedition & there by every possible means in your power 
secure all articles of property belonging to the enemy & all persons 
abetting or in any wise acting inimical to the interests of the United 
States of America. 

" And all articles so obtained you'll be pleased to transport with the 
utmost expedition to this place. You are hereby authorized to im- 
press negroes, teams, wagons, oxen & every other requisite to expe- 
dite & carry this business into execution. 

" You are to move or cause to be removed all the Indigo salt hospi- 
tal stores & all other articles suitable & wanted for the army from 
every person without distinction except so much as may be necessary 
for family use. You are to observe that all property or articles sold 
by the enemy still vests in the public which is to be taken & disposed 
of accordingly, the situation & nature of the service requii'es the 
utmost circumspection & vigilance — the worst of consequences is to be 
apprehended from delays. 

" To the end that friends may not be injured or enemys go unpun- 
ished you'l endeavor to make the necessary discrimination & act 
inflexibly. 

" You'll inform me as early as may be of your proceedings, the 

progress you have made & prospects in view so that if necessary hereby 

success & sujiport may be aiforded you. 

" I am ever your most obdt. & h'l'b servt. 

.,rs WT T> T\ „ >' " Thos. Sumter. 

"Capt. W. K. Davis. 

1 Sumter's letters, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 62. 



430 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Wherein was the impropriety of this order it is difficult 
to conceive. Governor Rutledge had not, at this time, the 
last of July, yet returned to South Carolina, and Sumter 
was in command of all the militia and State troops, and 
was daily in communication with General Greene, who 
depended upon him in a great measure for supplies and 
horses which Sumter was taking from the Tories,^ and the 
very day upon which he issued this order to Captain Davis, 
Sumter sends to General Greene an inventory of all the 
property taken from the enemy during his expedition in 
the Low-Country .2 Surely, under these circumstances, 
independently of his own authority as commanding the 
State forces in South Carolina, he had every reason to 
suppose himself authorized and charged by Greene him- 
self to seize and secure the enemy's property, and to im- 
press all articles necessary for the support of the army, 
whether in the hands of friends or foe. If there really 
was any occasion for excepting Georgetown from Sumter's 
vigilance and action, it behooved General Greene to inform 
him of it. But why attribute the burning of Georgetown 
to Sumter's order, which there is no evidence that Captain 
Davis carried out, nor of which is there any that the enemy 
were even aware, rather than to the fact which Judge 
Johnson himself states, namely, that an attempt was being 
made to open this port to communication with Havana? 
The fact " that the Whigs were about to draw from it 
[Georgetown] supplies for the army " coming in from 
Havana, would very much more naturally account for 
the enemy's destruction of the place, than the mere fact that 
Sumter had sent an officer to seize the enemy's property 

1 See Greene's letters to Sumter, April 19, 1781, Year Book, City of 
Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 90; April 30, ihid., 93; May 4, ibid., 96; 
May 6, ibid., 97 ; May 17, ibid., 101-102 ; June 23, ibid., 115-116. 

- Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 48. 



IN THE DEVOLUTION 431 

in the town. It is difficult to avoid the impression that 
this suggestion was nothing more than excuse for a quar- 
rel, and was fitly concluded by a letter from Lee to Greene, 
joining in denunciation of Sumter, which ends with this 
extraordinary statement : ^ " General Sumter is become almost 
universalis/ odious, as far as I can discover. J lament that 
a man of his turn ivas ever useful, or being once deservedly 
great, shall want the wisdom necessary to continue so, and 
preserve his reputation." 

The suggestion in regard to furloughing his men, and 
the order to Captain Davis for the seizure of property in 
Georgetown, were the two events, it is said, which led 
General Greene into that review of General Sumter's 
whole conduct since he had command in the department, 
from which General Greene imbibed the opinion that he 
had never been cordially supported by that officer, and 
from which he only doubted whether to attribute General 
Sumter's conduct to want of cordiality in contributing 
to the success of measures which should crown the com- 
mander of the Southern Department with honors, or an 
avidity for personal distinction which impelled him to a 
deviation from the plan of others that he might enjoy the 
undivided honor of his own achievements.^ 

There can be no doubt that Sumter differed radically 
with General Gi^eene as to the conduct of military opera- 
tion in the State ; but so also did Marion and Lee. 
Greene was, with one notable exception, always for some 
grand general engagement, while Sumter, Marion, and 
Lee believed in the slow but surer process of attrition, in 
ceaseless activity upon the outposts and communications 
of the enemy. Greene, in his general engagements, was 
always defeated, as at Guilford, Hobkirk's Hill, and Ninety 
Six, and, indeed, again, as we shall soon see, at Eutaw; 
^ Campaigns in the Garolinas (Lee), 450. 2 j^id,^ 214. 



432 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

while Sumter, Marion, and Lee, though not always victori- 
ous, achieved many brilliant results, and were uniformly 
successful in accomplishing their purpose of wearing away 
the enemy in smaller affairs. There was another point of 
difference as between Greene and Lee on the one side, and 
Sumter and Marion on the other. And that was in the 
assumed superiority of the former as regulars over the 
latter as militia. Sumter and Marion, as we have had 
occasion before to observe, had each begun his military 
career in the French War in expeditions against the Ind- 
ians, and had both been in the service as Continentals, 
and in that part of the army Marion had probably seen as 
much service as either Greene or Lee, if not more. While 
in the volunteer line the two had kept up the war without 
Greene or Lee, and had accomplished more than either of 
them could boast. It was the just complaint of both 
Sumter and Marion that Lee was allowed to reap alike 
the honors and material advantages of their plans and 
work. To such an extent had they felt this, that within 
a few days of each other each had tendered his resignation. 
But there was no ground whatsoever to charge Sumter 
with standing off from Greene's support when he had it in 
his power to aid him. True, he was not able to furnish 
a thousand men himself, independently of INIarion, when 
their united forces did not reach that number, with which 
to join Greene in a great battle upon his return to the 
State. True, too, he did urge that those whom he could 
bring out would be best employed in Rawdon's rear, and 
not in a ofeneral en^acfement ; but in this Greene had 
yielded to his views as being sound, and Sumter, carrying 
them out, had compelled Lord Rawdon's evacuation of 
Camden, though his lordship had beaten Greene in the 
field. When the occasion did present itself for one decisive 
blow upon the retreating enemy, already well-nigh routed, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 433 

Greene had turned aside, against Sumter's advice, for the 
siege of a post in his rear, which was about to fall of itself, 
and which was only saved from doing so by his effort to 
take it. 

Was it not Greene himself wlio, as appears by his corre- 
spondence, was avaricious of personal distinction, and jeal- 
ous for the undivided honor of his achievements ? It is in 
this spirit that he writes to Lee, when giving his reason for 
abandoning South Carolina and going to Virginia, that the 
plans being laid and the position taken in South Carolina, 
the rest would be a war of posts, and the most that would 
be left to the commanding officer would be to make de- 
tachments, and give the command of them to the proper 
ofificers, to wliom the glory would belong for executing the busi- 
ness} The same spirit prompted his letter to Governor 
Reed, belittling the achievements of Sumter and Marion, 
and declaring that they did little more than keep the dis- 
pute alive. 

Though General Greene had been disappointed that the 
militia of Rowan and Mecklenburg counties had not joined 
him as he had expected, he nevertheless received a consid- 
erable reenforcement from North Carolina while at his 
camp of rest. When, before Ninety Six, he had become 
satisfied that he must no more rely upon drawing horses 
or men from Virginia, he despatched Colonel Malmedy, 
who, it will be recollected, escaped from Charlestown be- 
fore its fall 2 and who had now recently joined him, to wait 
upon the legislature of North Carolina, then in session, 
and press upon them the necessities of his situation. The 
application was promptly met, and 200 horses, a monthly 
draft of militia to keep constantly in the field 2000 men, 
and an immediate draft of 1500 to march forthwith to the 

1 Campaigns in the Carolinas (Lee), 356. 

^Hist. of So. Ca. in the JRevolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 480. 

VOL. IV. — 2 F 



434 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

army, and to serve there three raonths, were voted without 
hesitation. 

While the main body of the army was resting on the 
hills, Colonel Washington was detached down the country 
across the Santee to strike all the communications between 
the enemy and Charlestown, and to cooperate with Marion 
and Maham in covering the country on the lower Santee. 
Lee was sent upwards along the north bank of the Congaree 
to operate with Colonel Henderson, in command of Sum- 
ter's brigade. Colonel Harden at the same time, with his 
mounted men collected beyond the Edisto, was keeping a 
watch upon the enemy in that quarter. Unfortunately, 
the execution of Colonel Hayne had much of its desired 
effect in detaining the inhabitants of this section from 
joining Harden. General Greene, in speaking of the efforts 
of the cavalry in their expeditions, asserts that their enter- 
prise was never excelled in the world. Washington suc- 
ceeded in falling in with two parties of the enemy's horse 
and making fifty prisoners. Lee, crossing the Congaree 
with the cavalry, penetrated between the main body of the 
enemy and his post at Orangeburgh, and in sight of the 
latter place dispersed or captured a number of their patrol 
parties.^ Harden, on the other hand, was not so fortunate ; 
a Captain Connaway of the Royal militia of Orangeburgh, 
about the 1st of August, attacked one of liis parties in the 
forks of the Edisto, at the head of Four Mile Creek, and 
killed eighteen and dispersed the rest ; ^ and two able and 
daring partisan leaders of the British Loyalists made their 
way to the upper country about this time, and began a series 
of the most sanguinary attacks upon the small posts in that 
region. One Hezekiah Williams, on the 6th of September, 
attacked a party of Whig militia in Turkey Creek, a branch 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 207. 
- The Bnyal Gazette, September 12, 1781. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 435 

of the Savannah, in what is now Edgefield County, killing 
and wounding ten.i The other was the notorious Bloody 
Bill Cuningham, whose exploits will presently be related. 

For some time after the removal of Colonel Stuart to 
his position near McCord's Ferry, his difficulties in obtain- 
ing provisions became very great. All the grain that 
could not be removed across the river had been destroyed ; 
and every boat above and below the confluence of the Con- 
garee and the Wateree was either removed or sunk and 
concealed. The consequence was that within arm's reach 
of plenty Colonel Stuart found himself obliged to depend 
on the country below for supplies. This compelled him 
to strengthen his post at Dorchester in order to cover 
his communication by Orangeburgh, and to post Major 
McArthur at the Colletons' place. Fair Lawn, near the 
head of the navigation of Cooper River, from which sup- 
plies received from Charlestown were transported by land 
to his headquarters. And as this communication was 
interrupted and watched by Washington, Marion, and 
Maham, in order to secure the means of communicatingr 
with the opposite bank of the Congaree and drawing sup- 
plies from thence, the British commander was under the 
necessity of transporting boats from Fair Lawn to the 
Congaree on wagon wheels.^ 

Both armies had thus settled down to comparative in- 
action for the rest of the heated season, when events at the 
North and in Virginia compelled General Greene to resume 
offensive operations before the season had half elapsed. It 
was not until the month of June that the array under 
General Washington moved out of winter quarters and 

1 The Boyal Gazette, September 12, 1781. This oificer's name is given 
in the Gazette as Jeptha Williams ; but in the issue of October 13 this is 
corrected, and his name given as Hezekiah. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene., vol. II, 208. 



436 HISTOEY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

the campaign of 1781 was commenced in the North. Up 
to this time t\\e French army, which had arrived in July, 
1780, had remained quietly at Newport. ^ At an interview 
between General Washington and Count de Rochambeau 
it had then been agreed to inaugurate a campaign by 
offensive operations against New York ; and the French 
army approaching the North River, the 2d of July was 
appointed for the attack, but the plan failed. The ap- 
pearance of the combined armies had, however, induced 
Sir Henry Clinton to recall a large portion of the British 
and German troops from Virginia, when, on the other 
hand, the arrival of a reenforcement of three thousand 
men from Europe allowed Sir Henry to countermand this 
order ; but in doing so he directed Lord Cornwallis (who, 
having marched from Wilmington and, notwithstanding 
the opposition of the Marquis de Lafayette, had overrun 
Virginia) to take some strong post on the Chesapeake from 
which he might either reenforce Sir Henry in New York, 
or proceed to execute the plans meditated against the 
States lying on that bay, as future events might demand. 
In this condition of affairs at the North and in Virginia 
it will be perceived how important a service to the coun- 
try at large were the operations in South Carolina, which 
constrained Colonel Gould to land the three regiments 
appearing off Charlestown bar, and to employ them here 
in serving Lord Rawdon rather than reenforcing Lord 
Cornwallis as intended. 

Early in August, Washington learnt that De Grasse, 
with the long-expected second division of the French fleet, 
was to have sailed from Cape Fran9ois on the 3d of that 
month, with a squadron of the line having on board thirty- 
two hundred soldiers, but that he was under engagements 
to return to the West Indies by the middle of October. 
1 Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevolution (McCrady), 846. 



IN THE IlEVOLUTION 437 

Whatever use was to be made of this force it was thus 
imperative should be determined on at once. The time 
allowed was deemed too short for operations against New 
York, and Washington turned his views to Virginia, and 
resolved to lead the Southern expedition in person. Gen- 
eral Heath was placed in command of the force left 
before New York to employ the attention of Sir Henry 
Clinton, while Washington, with all the troops of Rocham- 
beau and a strong detachment from the Continental army, 
on the 19th of August, began his march for Virginia. It 
was anticipated that, as soon as Cornwallis found himself 
cut off by the French fleet from communication with Sir 
Henry Clinton, he would attempt to escape by a sudden 
march to Charlestown. To meet this, Lafayette was re- 
quested to make such a disposition of his army as should 
be best calculated to prevent the movement, and Greene, 
receiving letters from the Commander-in-chief of the con- 
dition of affairs, determined to resume offensive opera- 
tions in South Carolina so as to prevent any assistance 
from this quarter.^ Thus was it that the Camp of Repose 
on the High Hills of Santee was broken up earlier than 
had been anticipated. 

On the 22d of August Greene called in all of his 
detachments except those under Maham, Harden, and 
Marion, and appointed a general rendezvous at Friday's 
Ferry. Great rains had now laid all the swamps which 
border the Wateree four miles in width under water, and 
without great difficulty and some danger to his advance, 
Greene could not cross the river without ascending it to 
Camden. By that route he reached Howell's Ferry on the 
Congaree on the 28th, and ordered his detachments to join 
him at that place, intending immediately to cross the river 
and advance upon Colonel Stuart. That officer, however, 
1 Marshall's Life of WashUirjton, vol. IV, 469, 541. 



438 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAllOLINA 

learning of the movement, fell back upon his reenforce- 
ments and took a position at the Eutaw Springs. 

As the British army had moved by forced marches to a 
distance of forty miles below its position at the mouth of 
the Congaree, it was no longer in the power of the Ameri- 
can commander to force it to action. He therefore deter- 
mined for the present a discontinuance of the pursuit, and, 
crossing the Congaree, moved slowly down the south 
bank, intending to take post at Motte's and await events. 
Colonel Lee, in the meantime, was pushed forward to 
watch Stuart's movements, and General Pickens, who had 
now, in the absence of Sumter and Marion, taken command 
of all the State troops present with Greene, was ordered 
to move leisurely down and take a position to observe the 
British garrison still remaining at Orangeburgh. These 
slow movements, indicative of a want of confidence, prob- 
ably induced Colonel Stuart to halt and give battle. He 
ordered up the detachment from Fair Lawn to reenforce 
him, while the garrison at Orangeburgh proceeded across 
the country below and replaced the garrison drawn from 
Fair Lawn.^ This movement Stuart was enabled to make 
without fearing for the safety of his post at Fair Lawn, for 
Marion at that time had disappeared from that neighbor- 
hood. His movements now require our attention. 

Harden, who was still operating on the Edisto, was at 
this time hard pressed by a British party of four or 
five hundred, recruited from the Loyalists who had been 
driven to Charlestown, while on the other hand his own 
party was dwindling under the necessity which the rav- 
ages of these men imposed upon his followers to look to 
the safety of their families, and the terror excited by the 
execution of Hayne. In this distress Harden appealed to 
Marion, who lay at Peyree's plantation in St. Stephen's 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 216, 217. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 439 

Parish. This officer at once applied to Greene to be 
allowed to undertake an enterprise for Harden's relief. 

As soon as permission was obtained, Marion, collecting 
up his men who had been resting, detached a mounted 
party under Captain George Cooper to the neighborhood 
of Dorchester and Monck's Corner to create a diversion 
there, whilst he with about two hundred picked men by 
a circuitous route and forced march of at least one hun- 
dred miles, crossed the Edisto, joined Harden on the 31st 
of August, and approached the British. When sufficiently 
near he drew up his men in a swamp upon the road near 
Parker's Ferry, and sent out some of his swiftest horses 
to lead the British into the ambuscade. While lying 
there a small party of Tories crossed at the ferry, and 
passing on, one of them called out that he saw a white 
feather, and fired his gun. This occasioned an exchange 
of a few shots on both sides, but, as is supposed, it was 
thought by Major Fraser, who commanded the British, to 
be only Harden's party that was in the swamp ; he pur- 
sued the horsemen sent out as a decoy, and led his corps 
in full charge within forty or fifty yards parallel to the 
ambuscade. A deadly fire from the swamp was the first 
notice he had that a greater force than Harden's was 
there. Fraser attempted to wheel and charge into the 
swamp, but only exposed his men the more, as they were 
thus delayed before the fire, and were wedged up on a 
causeway so closely that every shot had its effect. Find- 
ing all his efforts ineffectual, Fraser at length retreated 
along the road, and thus passed again the whole ambus- 
cade. A large body of British infantry were now seen 
advancing, and Marion retreated without counting the 
dead, but men and horses were seen lying promiscuously 
in heaps on the road. Marion's retreat was probably owing 
more to the want of ammunition than to the advance of 



440 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the British infantry, accustomed as he was often to en- 
counter the enemy with success. A party under Captain 
Melton went over the battle-ground next day and counted 
twenty-seven dead horses ; the men had been buried. But 
though the loss could not be ascertained, the effect of this 
well-conducted affair soon became evident, for at the 
battle of Eutaw, nine days after, the enemy had but few 
cavalry in the field. 

In the meantime Captain Cooper passed on to the 
Cypress swamp, and there routed a party of Tories, and 
then, proceeding down the road, he drove off the cattle 
from before the enemy's fort at Dorchester. Thence he 
moved down the Charlestown road, and finding a body of 
Tories in a brick church within twelve miles of the town, 
he charged and drove them before him. Then passing into 
the Goose Creek road he proceeded to the Ten Mile House, 
returned and passed over Goose Creek bridge, took a cir- 
cuitous route around the British at Monck's Corner, and 
arrived in camp at Peyre's plantation, where Marion now 
lay, with many prisoners and without the loss of a man.^ 

To cross the country from St. Stephen's to the Edisto, 
passing through both lines of the enemy's communication 
with Charlestown ; to surprise and defeat and disperse 
parties much superior to his own ; , to return by the same 
route, pass the Santee safely ; to deliver his prisoners and 
return twenty miles below Eutaw Springs to watch the 
communication between that place and Fair Lawn; then 
at the call of Greene to make a circuit and pass the enemy 
so as to reach a position on the south side of the Santee in 
the track of Greene's advance, — was all the work of six days. 
These movements of Marion and of his gallant officers 
merited and received the particular thanks of Congress.^ 

1 James's Life of Marion, 126-128. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 218. 



FT 




To Nelson's Ferry 1 M%k 



CHAPTER XIX 

1781 

Johnson observes that it is not true, as some authors 
assert, that General Greene delayed his advance, awaiting 
Marion's arrival upon his return from Edisto. He says 
that, until Greene had reached Fort Motte, it had been his 
intention to attack Stuart without the aid of Marion; 
that Greene indeed believed that the British commander 
was desirous to avoid a combat ; and that it was not until 
he learned that the detachment from Fair Lawn had 
marched to reenforce Stuart, and that the garrison from 
Orangeburgh was taking position to support him, that he 
became convinced that Colonel Stuart meant to measure 
swords with him. That then Greene deemed it necessary 
to order Marion to his support. But, however that may 
be, Greene in his official report states that he began his 
march on the 5th of September, and advanced by small 
marches as well to disguise his intention as to give time to 
General Marion, who had been detached to join him.^ 
The order to Marion was dated the 4th. It found Marion 
already returned, and on the next day Marion was quietly 
awaiting Greene at Henry Laurens's plantation, seventeen 
miles above the enemy. Here Greene found him on hand, 
and ordering up General Pickens with his men from Ninety 
Six, and who had now also taken command of Sumter's 
State troops, then under Henderson, the 6th was devoted 

1 Appendix to Tarleton's Campairjns^ 513, 514. 
441 



442 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to rest and preparation for battle. On the 7th, the army 
marched to Burdell's Tavern on the Congaree road, seven 
miles from Eutaw. Baggage, tents, and everything that 
could embarrass or detain had been left under guard at 
Motto's. 

The number of men taken into action at Eutaw, on 
either side, has never been definitely ascertained. Johnson 
gives the following as the nearest estimate of that of the 
Americans : the rank and file of the Continentals or 
regulars, 1256 ; the cavalry of the South Carolina State 
Troops in action, 72, and the infantry, 73 ; the militia of 
North Carolina, about 150; those of Sumter's and Pickens's 
brigades then in the field, 307. The number of Marion's 
troops could not have exceeded 40 cavalry and 200 infan- 
try. Allowing 200 for the camp guard, then forty miles in 
the rear, Greene's whole force could not have much ex- 
ceeded 2000 combatants.^ This is the estimate also of 
Ramsay.'^ Lee places the numbers a little higher, 2300, 
but gives no details.^ The Continentals were composed of 
those brought by Greene on his return to South Carolina, 
with the addition of those from North Carolina who had 
joined him under Major Eaton, 220, and 200 levies,^ but 
both of which detachments were now greatly reduced. 
Johnson had previously stated that almost 500 North Caro- 
lina militia had joined Greene on the High Hills of Santee, 
but that many of these were destitute of arms, and all of the 
levies for the North Carolina regulars had to be furnished 
with the arms he intended for the troops he had proposed 
to raise in South Carolina. In giving the disposition of the 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 219. 

2 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 257. 

3 Memoirs of the War of 1776, 407. Gordon says, "2600 does not seem 
an exaggerated estimate of Greene's total force." — Gordon's J.m. War, 
vol. IV, 168. 

* Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 208. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 443 

troops in line of battle the same author describes the 
second line as composed of Continental troops, to wit : 
the North Carolina line 350, the Virginians 250, the 
Marylanders 250. This would leave Kirkwood's Dela- 
wares, Washington's Cavalry, and Lee's Legion together 
to count but 406, in order to make up 1256, the number 
at which he puts the American regulars. Classified by 
States, Greene's army was thus composed : — 

South Carolina Volunteers or Militia, Sumter and Pickens, 

307, Marion, 2i0 547 

South Carolina State Troops, Cavalry 72, Infantry 73 . . 145 692 

North Carolina Continentals (Sumner) 350 

North Carolina Militia (Malmedy) 150 500 

Virginia Continentals, Infantry (Campbell) 250 

Virginia Continentals, Cavalry (Washington) 80 330 

Maryland Continentals (Howard) 250 

Delaware Continentals (Kirkwood), Lee's Legion .... 320 

20921 

The exact number of the British force under Colonel 
Stuart is not known. In his report of the action to Lord 
Cornwallis he states that he knew the enemy were much 
superior to him in numbers,^ but as he had just stated that 

1 General de Peyster in his account of the battle of Eutaw Springs, in 
The United Service Magazine, September, 1881, p. 321 n., observes: "It 
is just as much a perversion of language to style the Southern levies or 
drafts which served under Greene in the Carolinas militia in the sense 
that the term is applied to the phantasm organizations recognized as 
such at the North within the memory of the present generation as to 
make any difference between the Loyal organizations in the service of the 
Crown and the British Regulars which were sent out from the mother 
country. The fact is, the fire, individually and collectively, of the Loyal 
Battalion was much more fatal than that of the Regulars, as man for man 
the rank and file were physically and intellectually superior." There is 
much truth in these remarks ; but it must be borne in mind that there 
were no levies or drafts of militia in South Carolina, for the reason that 
there was no civil government in the State. There was, in fact, no militia. 

2 Appendix to Tarleton's Campaigns, 510. 



444 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the rebel army consisted of near four thousand men, it is 
clear that no value can be placed upon his estimate of their 
relative strength. The British regular force at the time 
in South Carolina was estimated at 4000, besides 1000 
Loyalists under arms and 400 cavalry. The garrison 
of Charlestown was composed of Loyalists and 500 reg- 
ulars, and Johnson estimates that, after allowing for the 
garrisons at Orangeburgh and Dorchester, and for the sick 
and detached, it is not probable that the force under 
Colonel Stuart could have been less than 2300, which 
agrees also with Lee's estimate.^ His force appears to 
have consisted of his own regiment, the 3d or Buffs; the 
Flank Battalion, as it was called, that is, the six flank 
companies of the three regiments lately arrived, which 
marched with Lord Rawdon in June for the relief of 
Ninety Six under the command of Major Majoribanks of 
the Nineteenth Regiment, which officer commanded them 
in this action ; the remains of the Sixty-third and Sixty- 
fourth regiments which had served the whole of the war ; 
the troops who had formed the garrison of Ninety Six, that 
is, Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger's Battalion of De Lancey's 
Brigade of New York, and Lieutenant-Colonel Allen's Bat- 
talion of New Jersey Loyalists ; and the New York Volun- 
teers under Major Sheridan. In addition to these he had 
the cavalry raised by the Loyalists in Charlestown, under 
Major Coffin, a body which, though commanded by an able 
officer, was numerically and individually greatly inferior 
to the American cavalry. In artillery the armies were about 
equal. The troops on both sides, with probably only the 
exception of the North Carolina new levies and militia, 
had all seen service, and most of them were well-disciplined 
troops. It is a curious circumstance, however, that the 

1 See also General de Peyster, "Battle of Eutaw Springs," Tlie United 
Service 3Iagazine, September, 1881, 325. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 445 

military experiences of the troops in this action had not all 
been upon the side on which they fought. A large portion 
of the old provincial regiments of the British in these days 
consisted of American deserters from the Continental line, 
and it was said they added to the British discipline the pre- 
cision of American marksmen; and so also many of the 
Continental troops on the American side had been recruited 
from the discharged soldiers and deserters from the British 
lines. To such an extent was this the case that it is 
reported General Greene was often heard to say, as we have 
quoted in a former volume, " that at the close of the war 
we fought the enemy with British soldiers ; and they fought 
us with those of America." ^ It is to be observed also, that 
while the Continental troops are properly credited to the dif- 
ferent States as classified in the foregoing table, it does not 
follow that they were recruited in the respective States to 
which they are so credited. The officers of the Continental 
regiments were generally of the State to which the regi- 
ment belonged, though this even was not, without excep- 
tion, true ; but the men were simply hired soldiers, as 
regulars usually are, taken wherever they could be found. 
During the year the Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia 
troops had been in South Carolina, the composition of 
their ranks had been greatly changed by casualties, dis- 
charges and desertions, on the one hand, and recruiting 
from discharged British soldiers and deserters on the other. 
It is claimed that the newly raised State troops of South 
Carolina, whose pay was in negroes, salt, and supplies, 
salvage as it was called, was largely recruited in the 
counties of Mecklenburg and Rowan, North Carolina. ^ 
Such a claim may readily be admitted on the part of South 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene^ vol. II, 220 ; Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevolu- 
tion, 177.5-80 (McCrady), 302. 

^No. Ca., 1780-81 (Schenck), 441. 



446 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Carolina, for men who would fight only for a share of 
plunder were not particularly an honor to either the States 
in which they were recruited or to that under whose name 
they served. North Carolina has honor enough in the 
patriots who voluntarily served under Davie, Davidson, 
McDowell, Graham, and Rutherford, without reference to 
these State regulars who enlisted for pay in plunder. 

At four o'clock in the morning of the 8th of September, 
the American army moved in four columns from its bivouac 
in the following order. The State troops of South Carolina 
and Lee's Legion formed the advance under the command 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Henderson, whose commission in 
the Continental service was senior to that of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Lee. The militia of North Carolina under Colonel 
Malmedy, who held a commission under that State, and the 
militia of South Carolina under Marion and Pickens, the 
whole under the command of Marion, moved next. Then 
followed the Continentals or regulars under General Sumner 
of North Carolina. The rear was closed by Washington's 
Cavalry and Kirk wood's Dela wares under Colonel Wash- 
ington. The artillery moved between the columns. The 
troops were thus arranged in reference to the order of 
battle in which they were to be formed in the field. 

Colonel Stuart's movement to Eutaw, upon receiving 
intelligence that Greene was on his march to attack him, 
had been for the purpose of meeting a convoy of provisions 
then on the road from Charlestown, rather than weaken 
the army before this expected attack by sending off so 
strong an escort as would have been necessary for securing 
its safe arrival. Arrived at Eutaw, Stuart rested there 
quietly, believing that Greene would be delayed in his 
attack awaiting Marion's coming. He had no idea that 
that officer had already returned, and was himself but 
seventeen miles away, waiting Greene's coming up to him. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 447 

So it was that when, at six o'clock in the morning of the 
8th, two deserters from the North Carolina levies came in 
with the intelligence that Greene was approaching, he 
neither credited their tale nor made inquiries of them, but 
sent them to prison. Indeed, so little attention did he give 
to the warning, that he sent out a party without arms with 
a small guard up the river for the purpose of collecting 
sweet potatoes. This party, commonly called "a rooting 
party," consisting of about 100, after proceeding about 
three miles, had pursued a road to their right which led to 
a plantation on the Santee.^ In the meanwhile Stuart 
received information by Major CofiQn, whom he had pre- 
viously detached with 140 infantry and 50 cavalry, to gain 
intelligence of the enemy, that they had appeared in force 
in his front, then about four miles from his camp.^ The 
American advance had already passed the road pursued by 
the rooting party when they were encountered by Coffin, 
who immediately charged with a confidence which betrayed 
his ignorance of its strength and of the near approach of 
the main army. It required little effort to meet and repulse 
the British cavalry, but the probability that their main 
army was near at hand to support the detachment, forbade 
a protracted pursuit. The firing at this point drew the 
rooting party out of the woods, and the whole fell into the 
hands of the Americans. A few straggling horsemen of 
Coffin's that escaped apprised the British commander of 
the enemy's approach, and infused a panic into all with 
whom they communicated.^ 
In the meantime Colonel Stuart had pushed forward a 

1 Stedman's Am. War, vol. II, 378,^ays 400 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, 
vol. II, 222, says 100 ; Otho H. Williams's account of the battle, Gibbes's 
Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 144, says 100. 

2 Stuart's Report, Appendix to Tarletou's Campaigns, 509. 

3 Stedman's Am. War., vol. II, 378. 



448 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

detachment of infantry to a mile's distance from the Eutaws, 
with orders to engage and detain the American troops 
while he formed his men and prepared for battle. But 
Greene, persuaded by the audacity of Coffin that the enemy 
was at hand, and wishing to have time to form his lines 
with coolness, halted his columns, and then, after distribut- 
ing the contents of his rum casks, proceeded with the for- 
mation of his order of battle. 

The first line was formed of the State volunteers, usually 
spoken of as militia, the South Carolinians in equal 
divisions on the right and left, and the North Carolinians 
in the centre. General Marion commanded the right, 
General Pickens the left, and Colonel Malmedy the centre. 
Colonel Henderson with the State troops covered the left 
of this line, and Colonel Lee with his Legion the right. 

The Continentals composed the second line. The North 
Carolinians under General Sumner occupied the right, and 
were divided into three battalions, commanded by Colonel 
Ashe and Majors Armstrong and Blount. The Mary- 
landers under Colonel Williams were on the left, divided 
into two battalions, commanded by Colonel Howard and 
Major Hardman. The Virginians were in the centre, 
under Colonel Campbell, divided into two battalions, com- 
manded by Major Sneed and Captain Edmunds. Two 
three-pounders under Captain Gaines moved in the road 
with the first line equally distant to the right and left. 
Two six-pounders under Captain Browne attended the 
second line in the same order. Colonel Washington still 
moved in the rear, with orders to keep under cover of the 
woods and hold himself in reserve.^ 

In this order the troops moved forward. The country 
on both sides of the road being in woods, the army could 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene^ vol. II, 223 ; Otho H. Williams's account 
of the battle, Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 146. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 449 

move but slowly while preserving their order. The woods 
however were not thick nor the face of the country irregu- 
lar; it undulated gently, presenting no obstacle to the march 
more than an occasional derangement in the alignments. 
As the American line moved on, it encountered Stuart's 
advanced parties and drove them in. 

Colonel Stuart had drawn up his troops in but one line, 
across the Congaree or River road, on ground somewhat 
elevated in front of his encampment, which was not far 
from the Eutaw Springs. On his right was Major 
Majoribanks with the flank battalion, a hundred paces 
from Eutaw Creek, which in that direction effectually 
covered the British position. Cruger's corps was in the 
centre, and the Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth on the left.^ 
The British left was, in the military language of the time, 
"in air," that is, without topographical cover. It was 
supported by Major Coffin with his cavalry and a detach- 
ment of infantry, which were concealed by a very thick 
hedge. 2 

The ground on which the British army was drawn up was 
altogether in wood ; but at a small distance in the rear of the 
line was a cleared field extending west, south, and east from 
the dwelling-house, and bounded north by the creek formed 
by the Eutaw Springs, which was bold and had a high bank 
thickly bordered with brush and low wood. From the 
house to this bank extended a garden enclosed Avith pali- 
sades. The windows of the house, which was two stories 
high with garret rooms, commanded the whole circumja- 
cent fields. The house was of brick and abundantly 
strong to resist small arms, and with various offices or 
outhouses of wood ; one particularly, a barn of some size, 
lay to the southeast, a small distance from the principal 
building. In the open ground to the south and west of 

^ James's Life of Marion, 134. '- Stodmau's Am. War, vol. II, 378. 

VOL. IV. — 2 G 



450 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the house was the British encampment, the tents of which 
were left standing.^ 

Tlie American approach was from the west; and a short 
distance from the house in that direction the road forks, 
the right hand leading to Charlestown by the way of 
Monck's Corner, the left running along the front of the 
house by the plantation then of Mr. Patrick Roche, and 
therefore called by the British officers Roche's woods, 
being that which leads down the river and through the 
parishes of St. John's and St. Stephen's. 

As soon as the skirmishing parties were cleared away 
from between the two armies, a steady and desperate con- 
flict ensued. The Americans attacked with impetuosity. 
The conflict between the artillery of the opposing armies 
was bloody and obstinate in the extreme. Both of the 
American pieces in the first line were dismounted and 
disabled. One of the enemy's, a four-pounder, shared the 
same fate. The militia of North and South Carolina 
attacked with alacrity the British regulars in their front. 
It was with equal astonishment, we are told, that both the 
second lines, i.e. the Continental and the British, contem- 
plated these men, steadily and without faltering, advance 
with shouts into the hottest of the enemy's fire, unaffected 
by the continual fall of their comrades around them. It 
appears that General Greene even expressed his admira- 
tion of the firmness exhibited on this occasion by these 
men, writing to Steuben, " such conduct would have graced 
the veterans of the great King of Prussia." ^ Why there 
should have been astonishment because Marion's men, who 
had just returned from a series of signal successes won by 
themselves without the aid of Continentals, or Sumter's 

1 Otho H. Williams's account of the battle, Gibbes's Documentary 
Hist. (1781-82), 147 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 221. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 225. 



m THE REVOLUTION 451 

men, now led by Pickens, who had never yet been in 
defeat, behaved like veterans, it is difficult to understand. 
There was no room for distrust of such leaders, nor was 
there occasion for such leaders to distrust men who were 
fighting now, as they had been for more than a year, with- 
out pay or reward, and who had followed them on more 
battle-fields than fortune had permitted their Continental 
brethren-in-arms to enter. For the South Carolina militia, 
as they were called, there could have been no apprehension 
because of inexperience ; but this was not the case with 
the North Carolinians. These had been just raised, and 
were not now commanded by one of their own leaders, but 
by a foreign officer whose conduct during the siege of 
Charlestown had not been so fortunate as to win approba- 
tion, but who, on the contrary, had been allowed to leave 
the garrison because of the ill feeling he had aroused by 
abandoning a post.^ It is not surprising, therefore, that 
when the veterans of the Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth regi- 
ments of the British line rushed with their bayonets upon 
them, this part of the militia in the centre should at last 
have yielded and been pushed back,^ and thus compelled 
the retreat of those of Marion and Pickens on the flanks. 

From the commencement of the action, the American 
covering parties on the right and left had been steadily 
engaged. The cavalry of the Legion had not been exposed 
to the enemy's fire, but the State troops under Hender- 
son had been in the most exposed situation in the field. 
The American right with the additions of the Legion in- 
fantry had extended beyond the British left, while the 
American left fell far short of the British right ; the con- 
sequence of which was that the State troops were exposed 

1 Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevoliition (McCrady), 489. 

2 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 4G8; Stedman's Am. War, vol. 
II, 379. 



452 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to the oblique fire of a large portion of tlie British right, 
and particularly of the battalion commanded by Major 
Majoribanks. Their endurance was most severely tried. 
Henderson solicited permission to charge his op[)oiieiits, 
and extricate himself from their galling fire ; but Greene 
would not run the risk of exposure of the artillery and the 
militia, whose flanks would have been uncovered, had the 
charge been made and defeated. While thus impatiently 
waiting opportunity for action, Henderson was severely 
wounded and his troops momentarily demoralized. Con- 
fidence and order was soon, however, successfully restored 
by Colonel Wade Hampton, who succeeded to the com- 
mand, aided by Colonel Polk and Colonel Mydelton. 

Upon the retirement of the militia, after having ex- 
hausted their ammunition, the brunt of the battle fell 
Tipon the Continentals of the second line, and Sumner's 
North Carolina brigade on the right, after sustaining a 
fire superior to their own, at length yielded and fell back. 
The British left, elated at the prospect, sprang forward as 
to certain conquest, but their lines soon became deranged. 
Availing himself of this. General Greene sent word to 
Colonel Williams, who upon the retirement of General 
Sumner was in command of what remained of the second 
line, to advance and sweep the field with the bayonet. 
Never, it is said, was order obeyed with more alacrity. 
Emulous to wipe away the recollection of Hobkirk's Hill, 
the Virginia and Maryland Continentals advanced with 
a spirit expressive of the impatience with which they had 
hitherto been passive spectators of the action. When 
within forty yards of the enemy the Virginians delivered 
a destructive fire, and the whole second line of Continen- 
tals advanced to the charge. 

Upon the approach of the second line, the left of the 
British army fell back in some disorder. Colonel Lee 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 453 

immediately took advantage of this, and wheeled his infan- 
try upon the exposed and broken flank, the disorder of 
which was thereby greatly increased. But the British 
centre, the Third, or Buffs, the Sixty-third and Sixty- 
fourth regiments, and De Lancey's corps, all apparently 
under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger, and 
the Flank Battalion on the right, under the command of 
Major Majoribanks, stood firmly awaiting the onset of the 
Continentals, whom they considerably outnumbered. The 
Continentals rushed on with great gallantry, and were 
met with equal bravery by the British regulars. Bayonets 
are said to have clashed and officers to have had occasion 
to use their swords. The disorder of the British left 
began now to affect the centre ; and as they gave way, left 
the flank of their comrades exposed, who, thus disconcerted, 
were pressed back by the fugitives. At that moment the 
Marylanders delivered a most destructive fire, and the 
British line, all but the right under Majoribanks, yielded. 
Shouts now resounded along the American line, and vic- 
tory was deemed certain ; but the carnage among the 
Americans had but commenced. 

Upon the breaking of his line Stuart withdrew from the 
wood to the open field in front of the house, under cover 
of a well-directed fire from a detachment of the New York 
volunteers under Major Sheridan, whom he had previously 
stationed in the building to check the Americans should 
they attempt to pass it. The cavalry of Lee's legion had 
now an opportunity of striking an effective blow upon the 
disordered ranks of the British line as it retreated, but it 
did not move. This was accounted for by the absence of 
Lee, who was with his infantry, and not with the cavalry, 
as expected by Greene ; and also by the presence of Major 
Coffin, who stood ready to interfere should a move be 
made. But from whatever cause occasioned, an excellent 



454 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

opportunity of dealing a telling blow was missed, and Lee 
did not escape animadversion because of its loss. 

Major Majoribanks was still standing firmly in the 
thicket on the right, and the original British line extend- 
ing considerably beyond the American left, as the opposite 
wing of the British gave way the two armies were swung 
round as it were upon the British extreme right as a pivot- 
General Greene saw that Majoribanks must be dislodged 
at every hazard, and orders were despatched to Washing- 
ton, who, it will be remembered, was in reserve, to push 
into the interval between the British and the creek and 
turn Majoribanks's right. Washington at once made the 
effort. Without waiting for Hampton, who was ordered to 
cooperate with him, he galloped through the woods and was 
soon in action. Colonel Hampton on receiving his orders 
also hastened to the scene of action, and making for the 
creek, endeavored to come in on Washington's left ; before 
he got up Washington attempted a charge on Majoribanks's 
front, but it was impossible for his cavalry to penetrate 
the thicket. Failing in this, Washington turned to the 
left, endeavoring with Hampton to get into the interval 
between Majoribanks and the creek ; but in doing so he 
exposed his flank to the enemy, who by a well-directed 
and deadly fire brought to the ground Washington him- 
self, many of the men and horses, and all of his officers 
except two. The survivors of Washington's command 
rallied under Lieutenant Gordon and Cornet Simons, and 
united themselves to Hampton, who again led them to the 
charge upon Majoribanks, but without success. Kirk- 
wood had, however, come up with his veteran Delawares 
and rushed furiously to avenge their comrades of the 
cavalry, with whom they had so often served. They were 
more successful and pushed Majoribanks somewhat back, 
but he still clung to the thickets, while conforming his 



IN THE REVOLUTION 455 

line to that of the left, which was still swinging back upon 
the settlement. Having at last to let go the thickets, he 
formed a new line with his rear to the creek, and his left 
on the palisaded garden. 

The retreat of the British army lay directly through 
their encampment, where the tents were all standing, and 
unfortunately presented many objects of temptation to the 
thirsty, naked, and fatigued. Nor was the concealment 
afforded by the tents at this time a trivial consideration, for 
the fire of Sheridan's New Yorkers from the windows was 
galling and destructive, and no cover from it was any- 
where to be found except among the tents or behind a 
building to the left of the front of the house. The old 
story was repeated. The American line was soon in 
irretrievable confusion. When their officers proceeded 
beyond the encampment, they found themselves nearly 
abandoned by their soldiers, and the sole marks for the 
party who now poured their fire from the windows of 
the house. The infantry of the Legion appears to have 
been the only body which was not thus disorganized. 
Being far on the American right, it had directed its 
movements with a view to secure the advantage of being 
covered by the barn. The narrow escape of the British 
army is sufficiently attested by the fact that the corps was 
very near entering the house pellmell with the fugitives. 
It was only by closing the door in the face of some of 
their own officers and men that it was prevented ; and in 
retiring from the fire of the house, the prisoners taken at 
the door were interposed as a shield to the lives of their 
captors.^ 

The demoralization of the American army was now com- 
plete. The fire from the house showered down destruction 
upon the American officers ; and the men, unconscious or 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene^ vol. II, 230. 



456 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

unmindful of consequences, perhaps thinking the victory- 
secure, and bent on the immediate fruition of its advan- 
tages, dispersed among the tents, feasted upon liquors and 
refreshments they afforded, and became utterly unmanage- 
able. Majoribanks and Coffin, watchful of every advan- 
tage, now made simultaneous movements, the former 
from his left, and the latter from the wood on the right 
of the American line. General Greene, says Johnson, soon 
perceived the evil that threatened him, and not doubting 
but his infantry, of whose disorderly conduct he was not 
yet aware, would immediately dispose of Majoribanks, 
despatched Captain Pendleton with orders for the Legion 
cavalry to fall upon Coffin and repulse him. What took 
place is thus reported by that officer : " When Coffin's 
cavalry came out General Greene sent me to Colonel Lee 
with orders to attack him. When I went to the corps 
Lee was not there, and the order was delivered to Major 
Egleston, the next in command, who made the attack with- 
out success. 

" The truth is," he adds, " Colonel Lee was very little, 
if at all, with his own corps after the enemy fled. He 
took some dragoons with him as I was informed and rode 
about the field, giving orders and directions in a manner 
the General did not approve of. General Greene was 
apparently disappointed when I informed him Colonel Lee 
was not with his cavalry and that I had delivered the 
order to Major Egleston." ^ 

General Greene now realized the extent of his misfor- 
tune, and ordered a retreat. But Coffin, who had repulsed 
the Legion cavalry, was not disposed to allow the Ameri- 
cans to retire without inflicting upon them a final blow. 
He hastened on to charge their rear, now dispersed among 
their tents. Hampton fortunately was on hand. He 
J Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 230. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 457 

had been ordered up the road to cover the retreat, and now, 
coming up, charged upon Coffin with vigor. Coffin met 
him with firmness, and a sharp conflict, hand-to-hand, was 
for a while maintained. But Coffin was obliged to retire, 
and in the ardor of pursuit the American cavalry ap- 
proached so near Majoribanks and the picketed garden 
as to receive from them a fatally destructive fire. Colonel 
Hampton, nevertheless, rallied his men, and resumed his 
station in the border of the wood. But before this could 
be effected, Majoribanks had taken advantage of the open- 
ing made by his fire, to perform another gallant action, 
which was decisive of the fortune of the day. 

The artillery of the second line had followed on as 
rapidly as it could upon the pursuit, and, together with two 
six-pounders abandoned by the enemy in their flight, had 
been brought up to batter the house. Unfortunately, in 
the ardor to do this, the pieces had been run into the open 
field so near as to be commanded by the fire from the house, 
and consequently drew all the fire from the windows upon 
the artillerists ; it killed or disabled nearly all of them. 
Majoribanks, as soon as disembarrassed of Hampton's 
cavalry, sallied into the field, seized the pieces, and hur- 
ried them under cover of the house. Then, being reen- 
forced by parties from the garden and the house, he 
charged among the Americans, now dispersed among the 
tents, and drove them before him. The American army, 
however, soon rallied after reaching the cover of the wood, 
and their enemy was too much crippled to venture beyond 
the cover of the house. 

General Greene halted on the ground only long enough 
to collect his wounded, all of whom except those who had 
fallen under cover of the fire from the house he brought 
off ; and having made arrangements for burying the dead, 
and leaving a strong picket under Colonel Hampton in the 



458 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

field, he withdrew his army to Burdell's, seven miles distant. 
At no nearer point could water be found adequate to the 
comforts of the army.^ 

Both parties claimed on this occasion complete victory. 
But it is noticeable that the British commander begins 
his despatch with the announcement of victory, while the 
American reserves his claim to the conclusion of his report, 
rather as a deduction from the facts stated than as positive 
assertion of his own. 

Colonel Stuart hastens, on the 9th, the day after the 
battle, to report to the Earl Cornwallis : — 

" With particular satisfaction I have the honor to inform 
your lordship that on the 8th instant I was attacked by 
the rebel General Greene with all tlie force he could col- 
lect in this province and North Carolina, and after an 
obstinate engagement I totally defeated him and took two 
six-pounders." ^ 

General Greene was in no such haste to communicate the 
result of the action. He deferred his report to the Presi- 
dent of Congress, to the 11th, when, after a detail of his 
movements and of the incidents of the battle, he closes 
with the remark : — 

" I think I owe the victory which I have gained to the 
brisk use the Virginians and Marylanders and one party 
of the infantry made of the bayonet. I cannot forbear 
praising the conduct and courage of all my troops." ^ 

The first and immediate results of the battle were clearly 
with the British, and Stuart's report doubtless expressed 
the opinion at the time, of all concerned, whether on the 
one side or the other. General Greene had broken up his 
camp, into which he had gone for the summer, for a sud- 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 231. 

2 Appendix to Tarleton's Campaigns, 508. 
8 J6id., 513. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 459 

den and specific purpose, and that was to strike so crush- 
ing a blow upon the British power in South Carolina as 
would leave him free to meet and cut off Lord Cornwallis 
should he attempt to escape from Washington and the 
French troops in Virginia. For this purpose he had at 
last succeeded in gathering up all his forces, Continentals, 
State troops, militia, and volunteers, into one grand army, 
and for once arraying them all in line of battle. It was an 
imposing array for the times. Sumter was absent, suffering 
from his wound; and Huger, who had fought in every 
pitched battle in which the Continentals were engaged 
in the three Southern States from Fort Moultrie up to this 
time, was also away. But with these two exceptions, 
Greene had here collected around him all the great leaders 
of the war in the South. Huger's place was ably filled by 
that excellent officer, Colonel Otho H. Williams, of Mary- 
land, than whom no better soldier or braver man served in 
the war. There was Washington, the sturdy and dashing 
cavalryman, and Lee, brilliant and ambitious. Then 
there was Marion, fresh from one of his most effective 
partisan strikes, and Pickens, the hero of Cowpens, and 
Wade Hampton, already rivalling those who had been 
earlier in the field, and who, on this occasion, was to per- 
form the most signal service. With these he marched, 
as he persuaded himself, to certain victory. Against him 
was an untried officer who had yet to fight his first battle. 
But the battle was fought, and at night Greene found him- 
self collecting his shattered forces seven miles from the 
battle-field, with Hampton only standing picket between 
hira and the enemy, who remained upon the ground the 
night after the action and the following day, with leisure 
to despatch from the battle-field itself a report of the vic- 
tory he had won. 

Nevertheless, though General Greene had failed appar- 



460 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ently of his purpose, the ultimate advantages were with 
the Americans, for while the losses were great on both 
sides, the waning power of the British could less afford the 
great loss of this bloody and hard-fought action. 

Colonel Stuart's return of killed and wounded was 3 
commissioned officers, 6 sergeants, 1 drummer, 75 rank and 
file, killed; total, 85 killed; 16 commissioned officers, 20 
sergeants, 2 drummers, 313 rank and file, wounded; total, 
351 wounded ; 15 sergeants, 8 drummers, 224 rank and file, 
missing ; total, 247 missing. In all 683.1 

General Greene reported his loss: Continental Troops: 
killed, 1 lieutenant-colonel, 6 captains, 5 subalterns, 4 ser- 
geants, 98 rank and file ; total, 114 killed. Wounded, 2 
lieutenant-colonels, 7 captains, 20 lieutenants, 24 sergeants, 
209 rank and file, total, 262 wounded. Total, 376. State 
Troops and Militia : killed, 1 major, 4 subalterns, 4 ser- 
geants, 16 soldiers ; total, 25 killed. Wounded, 3 lieu- 
tenant-colonels, 6 captains, 5 subalterns, 3 sergeants, 91 
soldiers ; total, 108 wounded and 8 missing ; total, 141. 
The whole loss of Greene's army was thus 517.^ 

1 Appendix to Tarleton's Campaigns, 513. 

2 Ibid., 517, 518. Appended to the above tabular statement is another 
by Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress, giving the 
total of the killed and wounded and missing at 554. 

Names of the Continental and militia commissioned officers killed and 
wounded in the action of Eutaw, the 8th of September, 1781, as given in 
Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 157, 158: — 

" Maryland Brigade, Captains Dobson and Edgerly, Lieutenants Dewall 
and Gould killed ; Lieut. Col. Howard, Captain Gibson, Capt. Lieut. 
Hugon, Lieutenants Ewing, Woolford, and Lynn, Ensign Moore wounded. 

" Virginia Brigade, Lieut. Col. Campbell, Capt. Oldham, Lieut. Wilson 
killed ; Captains Edmonds and Morgan, Lieutenants Miller and Jowitt 
wounded. 

" North Carolina Brigade, Captains Goodman, Goodwin, and Potter- 
field, Lieut. Dillon, killed ; Capt. Hadley, Lieutenants Dixon, Andrews, 
and Dudley, Ensigns Lamb and Moore wounded. 

" South Carolina Line, Lieut. Col. Henderson wounded. Cavalry, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 461 

Colonel Stuart admits a loss of 683, including only 247 
missing. But to these, however, it is fair to add 70 of his 
wounded who fell into the Americans' hands when he fell 
back on the 10th. It is also fair to add, on the other hand, 
that while the official report above returns the missing of 
the Americans at 8 militia, the British claimed to have 
taken 60, and the Americans admitted a loss of 40.^ 

The loss in officers on both sides was very severe. 
Colonel Stuart was himself wounded, so that he was soon 
compelled to retire from his field, and Major Majoribanks 
fatally. He died on the march to Charlestown, and his 
tomb is still seen on the roadside where he expired and 
was buriedt^ 



Lieut. Col. "Washington wounded and prisoner of war; Capt. "Watts, 
Lieutenants Gordon, Simons, King, and Steward, Mr. Carlisle, volunteer, 
killed. Artillery, Capt. Lieut. Finn wounded, Lieut. Carson wounded 
mortally, Lieut. Drew wounded, Lieut. McGurrie wounded and prisoner 
of war. Legion Infantry, Lieut. Manning wounded. Mr. Carrington, 
volunteer, wounded. O. H. "Williams, D. A. G. 

" South Carolina State Officers, Major Eutherford, Lieut. Polk, 
Adjutant Lush killed, Lieut. Col. Henderson commanding Brigade, 
Lieut. Col. Middleton, Captains Moore, Giles, N. Martin, and Cowan, 
Lieutenants Erskiue, Culpeper, Hammond, aud Spragins wounded. 

" South Carolina Militia, Brig. Gen. Pickins, Lieut. Col. Horry, Cap- 
tains Gee, Pegee, Lieutenant Boon wounded. Lieutenants Holmes and 
Simons killed." 

In the above list "Washington's cavalry and Lee's Legion infantry are 
incorrectly credited to South Carolina. Lieutenant-Colonel Henderson, 
wounded, is twice mentioned, and so is Lieutenant Simons killed. The 
name of Lieutenant-Colonel Middleton should be spelled Mydelton. 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, "Vol. II, 2-32. 

^ Major Majoribanks (pronounced Marshbanks), by whom, in conjunc- 
tion with Sheridan, the British army was saved, lies buried on the Santee 
Canal Road, about half a mile below the chapel (Biggin Chapel ?) ; he 
was a brave and generous enemy, and on an old headboard the following 
inscription is still (1821) to be seen : "John Majoribanks Esq., late Major 
to the 19 regt. inf y and commanding a flank bat'n of his Majesty's army, 
obiit. 22 October, 1781."— James's Life of Marion, 137. 



462 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

On the American side Colonel Campbell of Virginia fell 
as he was leading his men to the charge ; and it is related 
of him that, drawing fast to his end, he inquired how the 
battle went, and being informed that the enemy were routed 
and flying, he exclaimed, " I die contented." Lieutenant 
John Simons was also among the slain. General Pickens, 
Colonels Washington, Howard, Henderson, Hugh Horry, 
and many others were also wounded. Sixty-one officers 
were killed or wounded, twenty -one of whom died on the 
field of battle. 

General Greene had gone into this battle, as he had done 
into that of Hobkirk's Hill, confident not only of victory, 
but also of the surrender of the British army in the field.^ 
Upon what such an expectation could have been based it 
is difiicult to conceive. The armies were, as at Hobkirk's 
Hill, very nearly equal, and the British all regulars or 
veterans. So, too, as usual, he was equally confident that, 
had not something unforeseen happened, he would have 
been entirely successful. To Washington he wrote, " We 
obtained a complete victory, and had it not been /or one 
of those incidents to which military operations are subject we 
should have taken the whole British army."^ The general 
was happily constituted. He was one of those who could 
always find plausible reasons why he did not succeed, and 
was thereby entirely consoled. At Guilford Court-house 
it was the North Carolina militia. At Hobkirk's Hill it was 
Gunby's fault, and Sumter's failing to join him. At Ninety 
Six it was Jefferson's fault in withholding the Virginia reen- 
f orcements. And now it was " one of those incidents to ivhich 
military operations are subject.'''' The incident in this case 
happened to be the want of discipline in his Continentals, 
who broke their ranks to secure the spoils of the enemy's 
camp. 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol, II, 233. ^ ji,i^^^ 240. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 463 

The heroes of this battle undoubtedly were Majoribanks, 
Sheridan, and Coffin on the one side, and Wade Hampton 
on the other. Majoribanks cut to pieces Washington as 
he was assailing the last point of resistance in the British 
line. Then, turning upon the disordered Americans among 
the tents, he routed them. Coffin it was who repulsed the 
Legion cavalry, and delivered the final blow upon the 
retreating Americans. It was Wade Hampton that finally 
pushed Majoribanks from his position in the thicket on the 
left; and it was he who alone interposed between Coffin 
and the retreating Americans as Majoribanks drove them 
from the field. 

It admits of no doubt, said the Annual Register, in its 
account of the battle, that the conflict was exceedingly 
severe, and abounded with instances of the highest gal- 
lantry on both sides. The Americans were now inured to 
arms and danger ; and the provincial militia, who alone led 
on the attack in the first line, not only fought with all 
spirit, but with all the perseverance of old, well-tried 

soldiers.^ 

1 Annual Eegister, 1782, vol. XXV, 191. 



CHAPTER XX 

1781 

It was Greene's intention to have renewed tlie action 
the next day ; but Stuart, calling up Mc Arthur from Fair 
Lawn, and leaving seventy of his wounded to the enemy, 
many of his dead unburied, breaking the stocks of one 
thousand stand of arms and casting them into the spring, 
and destroying his stores, retreated towards Fair Lawn. 
Upon this Greene turned back from BurdelFs plantation, 
and followed him for some distance ; but as Stuart contin- 
ued his retreat, Greene halted and detached Marion and 
Lee by a circuitous route to interpose between the two 
British forces. This, however, failed. So hurried was 
Stuart's retreat for fifteen miles that he brought his first 
division within a few miles of McArthur, coming to his 
aid before Marion and Lee reached Ferguson's Swamp, 
their point of destination. The Britisli officers effected a 
junction, and Stuart halted at Wantoot, INIr. Daniel Rav- 
enel's plantation, twenty miles from Eutaw.^ On the 
day of the battle Greene had received intelligence by ex- 
press from Governor Burke of North Carolina, which for- 
bade him continuing longer south of the Santee than was 
necessary to ascertain whether his adversary would wait 
another attack ; then, recrossing the Santee at Nelson's 
Ferry on the 12th, on the 15th he resumed his former 

10. H. Williams's account, Gibbes's Documentary HM. (1781-82), 156; 
Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 23-2 ; James's Life of Marion, 136. 

464 



IN THE REVOLUTION 465 

position on the benign Hills of Santee, as Lee called them, 
from which he indulged his literary propensity in com- 
municating with his friends at the North upon the battle, 
for which, with some reason, he now claimed the honor of 
victory.^ But, as usual, something had happened to mar 
his fortune. Writing to Lafayette amongst numerous 
others, he says, " We obtained a complete victory, and had 
it not been for one of those incidents to tvJdch military opera- 
tions are subject we should have taken the whole British 
army." We are left, says Johnson, his biographer, to con- 
jecture what this " incident " was to which he so often 
alludes, as the cause of his failure to capture the whole 
army .2 The intelligence which hastened his return to the 
north of the Santee was the renewal of the report that 
Lord Cornwallis was meditating a return to South Caro- 
lina. This intelligence was apparently confirmed by the 
movement of Colonel Stuart, who, collecting all the reen- 
forcements he could gather from below, strengthening his 
cavalry to the number of two hundred, had once more ad- 
vanced to the Eutaws, and was pushing the American 
detachments both up and down the Santee. Hampton 
above, and Marion below, were both obliged to return 
across the river. ^ 

Governor Burke of North Carolina was exerting him- 
self to the utmost to meet the anticipated movement of 
Lord Cornwallis, when a most extraordinary event oc- 
curred. A band of Loyalists, not exceeding three hundred, 
headed by the celebrated partisan Hector McNeill, issuing 
from Wilmington, penetrated the country as high up as 
Hillsboro, and, seizing the Governor and some of his 
council and every Continental and militia officer in the 
place, made good their retreat to Wilmington, and from 
thence the Governor was immediately shipped to Charles- 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 239. « Ibid., 240, 241. a lud., 243. 

VOL. IV. — 2 H 



466 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

town as a State prisoner. Lord Rawdon on his voyage to 
England had just fallen into the hands of the allies at sea 
about a fortnight before, and as his lordship had been men- 
tioned as a fit subject for retaliation for the execution of 
Hayne, and as the St. Augustine prisoners had been re- 
leased, it became necessary, it was said, to procure others.^ 
The capture of Governor Burke put into the hands of the 
British a hostage of sufficient importance to insure the 
life of Lord Rawdon. 

The success of this adventure had the effect, not only of 
producing a great excitement among the Loyalists of the 
State generally, but especially in arousing into activity 
those on the Pee Dee, with whom, through Major Gainey, 
Marion and Horry had entered into treaty. These began 
to assemble again and to renew their ravages, and to 
harass the Whigs in every quarter. To quell this upris- 
ing. General Greene despatched General Sumner as soon 
as he received the intelligence of the Governor's capture, 
with instructions to promote and carry on the measures 
undertaken by that active governor, and to counteract 
the evil consequences of his capture. 

In the meanwhile the condition of Colonel Stuart's 
wound caused him to leave the field and to turn over his 
command of the army to Major Doyle. Under this officer 
the British army returned to the Santee, and took post 
at Fludd's plantation, three miles from Nelson's Ferry. 
According to all the intelligence of the day, after all the 
reductions which it had sustained from battle and disease, 
the British army under Doyle consisted of two thousand 
men besides a detachment at hand of three hundred under 
Major Mc Arthur at Fair Lawn. The Loyalists also who 
had retired with Lord Rawdon to Charlestown were re- 
quired with little discrimination to engage in active ser- 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 244. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 467 

vice. Many of the lower and poorer order of these joined 
the Royal regiments ; the more adventurous of them 
furnished very efficient bands of mounted infantry, which 
were sent out to harry and harass the Whigs. It was 
from this class that Major William Cuningham, Colonel 
Hezekiah Williams, and other partisan leaders in the 
Royal cause had raised their corps, with which, following 
the examples of Sumter and Marion, they penetrated be- 
hind the American lines ; but unlike Sumter and Marion, 
who conducted their warfare upon the most civilized rules, 
and with all humanity permissible in warfare, the Tory 
leaders not only carried fire and sword into the back coun- 
try, but, not content with their own atrocities, called in 
the Indians to inflict their barbarities upon their unfortu- 
nate countrymen. 

The history of the notorious William Cuningham, whose 
cruelties have given him a name in the annals of his state 
as that of " Bloody Bill Cuningham," is interesting and 
instructive as illustrating the dreadful condition of affairs 
at this time, and their effect upon characters which other- 
wise might have developed peaceable citizens with no 
unkindly disposition. 

William Cuningham was one of the family of the Cun- 
inghams who had removed from Virginia to the Ninety 
Six District in this province. In the beginning of the 
struggle his political opinions leaned more to the Whig 
side than those of the rest of his family. He is repre- 
sented as being of lively, jovial disposition, open-hearted 
and generous, priding himself upon keeping his word, but 
of a quick and fiery temper. He was a remarkable horse- 
man, with a passion for fine horses, fine weapons, and fine 
clothing. These qualities rendered him a favorite with the 
young men of his neighborhood. On this account, though 
but nineteen years of age in 1775, he was applied to by 



468 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

John Caldwell to assist in raising a company for Colonel 
Thomson's regiment of rangers embodied by the Provincial 
Congress. Cuningham afterwards insisted that the con- 
ditions upon which he had agreed to enlist were that he 
should be made first lieutenant and should have a right 
to retire from the company in case they should be sent to 
the lower country or ordered on any other service than 
that specified by Congress. However this may have been, 
in this company he went upon the expedition under Major 
Mayson and was present at the taking of Fort Charlotte 
on the 12th of July in that year. When ordered to 
Charlestown Cuningham claimed that he had consented 
to go only on the condition that he should be permitted to 
resign as soon as they reached their destination. The 
company encamped near the town for about a week, and 
was then ordered to one of the islands. Cuningham im- 
mediately tendered his resignation, Avhich Caldwell refused 
to accept. Upon this Cuningham, insisting upon the 
agreement, swore that if he were taken over to the Island 
it should only be as a corpse. One-half of the company 
who had joined through Cuningham's influence exhibited 
a spirit of insubordination, and it is claimed that, in order 
to prevent a mutiny, he again consented to go on the re- 
newed condition that his resignation should be accepted 
so soon as they reached the island. No sooner had they 
landed, however, it is said, than Caldwell, in order to 
restore subordination, had Cuningham arrested, put in 
irons, and tried by a court-martial on a charge of mutiny. 
Cuningham was, however, not only acquitted by the court, 
but freed from his engagement on the ground of the con- 
ditional agreement. Caldwell thus became an object of 
hatred to a set of men to whom the distracted state of the 
country afterwards afforded ample opportunity of satisf}^- 
ing their resentments and avenging their wrongs. Cun- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 469 

ingham himself, it is said, was satisfied with treating 
them with personal indignity, but others, as will soon 
appear, were not content with so bloodless a retaliation. 
Having returned to the upper country, Cuningham still 
adhered to the Whigs, and was with General Williamson 
in his campaign against the Cherokees in the autumn of 
1776. But after this expedition he declared that, having 
seen reason to change his opinions, he was determined to 
continue no longer in the service of the Whigs. 

From this time a bitter neighborhood strife arose, in which 
on the Whigs' side one Captain William Ritchie, who had 
been with Cuningham in Caldwell's company, was the 
leader, who it is said sent Cuningham word that " he 
intended to shoot him down the first sight he got of him, 
and would follow him if necessary to the very gates of 
hell." In 1778 Cuningham, at the instance of his brother 
Andrew and Cousin Patrick, went to Savannah. While there 
another brother, John, who was lame and an epileptic, was 
murdered, it was said, by Ritchie and a party under cir- 
cumstances of great atrocity, if the Tory accounts are true. 
William Cuningham, as the story goes on, hearing of the 
murder of his brother, swore he would never rest until he 
had avenged it in Ritchie's heart-blood. Not being able to 
procure a horse, he set out immediately on foot, attended 
by a servant, and walked all the way from Savannah to 
Ninety Six. On arriving at home he was informed that 
his father had also been ill-treated by Ritchie and his party, 
whereupon he hastened at once to Ritchie's house and found 
him in the yard with some of his followers. On seeing 
Cuningham, Ritchie clasped his hands together and 
exclaimed to one of his companions, " Lord have mercy on 
me, Hughes, for yonder is Cuningham and I am a dead man." 
He tried to escape, but Cuningham shot him down as he 
was crossing a fence, and coming close told him he " had 



470 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

come all the way from Savannah on foot to kill him, on 
account of the crimes he had committed against his family." 

From this period till the end of the war, Cuningham's 
life was passed in a series of wild adventures, so often end- 
ing in such fearful tragedies as to earn for him throughout 
the country the significant cognomen of " Bloody Bill " ; 
and in the story his famous horse, " Ring-tail," attained 
a celebrity hardly less distinguished than his owner.^ As 
an officer in the British service he assumed vigorously to 
enforce Cornwallis's order that all wlio had renewed their 
allegiance to the King and resumed arms against his Maj- 
esty, if taken, should be put to death as rebels, and 
remorselessly executed all such as fell into his power.^ 

Early in August he set out from the garrison at 
Charlestown with a party of 150 men for the purpose of 
inflicting punishment on the Whigs of Ninety Six, who it 
was alleged had committed injuries against the wives and 
children of some of those of his party. Pushing through 
the American lines while Greene was in his camp of repose, 
and reaching the upper country, he began his operations 
between the Enoree and the Saluda, in what is now Laurens 
County. In his first raid he killed eight of the noted 
rebels of the neighborhood and increased his corps by 
sixty of the Loyal inhabitants.^ With his body thus raised, 
he now set in relentlessly to harass the Whigs of the coun- 
try, and to wreak his vengeance upon his enemies. 

Soon after this another marauding party of Loyalists 
made an incursion into the neighborhood of jNIount Will- 
ing, in what is now Edgefield County, near which Captain 

^ C\ivwm''s Joitrnal and Letters, 1775-81; Sn.hine'' s Aine7-ican Loyalists, 
237 ; MS. letters, certificates, and affidavits in possession of Clarence 
Cuningham, Charleston, S.C. , 

2 Curwin's supra. 

3 Curwin's, (MS. The lioyal Gazette, September 12, 1781. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 471 

James Butler lived, carrying off considerable booty. This 
Captain Butler, the founder of the distinguished family 
of that name, had taken an active part in the Revolution 
from its commencement, had served in the Snow Cam- 
paign in 1775, and for refusing to accept the terms of Sir 
Henry Clinton's proclamation upon the fall of Charles- 
town had been arrested, confined in irons in Ninety Six 
jail, from which he had been transferred to Charlestown, 
where he had been confined in the provost, and had just 
now been released upon the general exchange of prisoners. 
Captain Butler had been at home but a few weeks, when 
his neighbors called upon him to take command of a party 
they were organizing for the pursuit of the marauders. 
At first he refused to go, alleging that the hardships he 
had already endured and his recent return home ought to 
exempt him from such an undertaking. But his son 
James, a youth of nineteen years of age, one of the party, 
refusing to proceed with the expedition unless his father 
assumed the direction. Captain Butler yielded to the appeal 
and consented to accompany the party as an adviser, the 
actual command being in Captain Turner. The Tories 
were overtaken and dispersed at Tarra's Spring, in what is 
now Lexington County, and the horses and cattle recap- 
tured. Upon the return of the party they unfortunately 
stopped at Cloud's Creek, a branch of the Little Saluda 
River in Edgefield, and encamped there against the protest 
of Captain Butler ; nor would they adopt ordinary military 
precautions, though by him urged to do so. It was not 
known who were the Loyalists they had been pursuing, 
but the next morning demonstrated the folly of their con- 
duct in neglecting Butler's advice. The Tories proved to 
have been a part of Cuningham's command, by the whole 
of which, numbering, it was said, three hundred men, the 
Whigs were attacked on the 7th of November. Taken by 



472 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

surprise, the little party of Whigs, about thirty in number, 
took refuge in an unfinished log house without door or 
windows. Upon Cuningham's demand for surrender, they 
asked the terms which they would be allowed, and Cun- 
ingham agreeing to receive a communication from them, 
a messenger was sent, to whom Cuningham's first inquiry 
was, Who are of the party ? And on learning that young 
Butler, who, they said, had been engaged in an affair in 
which one Radclilf was killed, was among them, Cuning- 
ham refused to give any terms which would exempt that 
young man from his sword. Cuningham was personally 
well acquainted with Captain Butler, having served with 
him in the Snow Campaign, and it is said had rather a 
partiality for him, and would have entertained terms of 
capitulation with the party had it not been for the pres- 
ence of the son. Captain Butler proposed to Cuningham 
that if he would spare his son he would make an uncondi- 
tional surrender of himself. The young man, however, 
learning Cuningham's animosity to him, and believing that 
his father and himself would be sacrificed in the event of 
any surrender, determined to force the hazard of a strug- 
gle, and exclaiming that he " would settle the terms of 
capitulation," fired his rifle, killing a Tory. This con- 
cluded the parley, and young Butler fell with a mortal 
wound while kneeling to pick the flint of his gun for a 
second shot. The gallant but expiring boy called his 
father, who, having gone on the expedition as an adviser, 
was unarmed, to his side, handed him his rifle, and told 
him there were yet a few balls in his pouch. The father 
took the gun and continued firing it until his powder and 
ball were exhausted. But the death of the young man 
produced a panic in the little party contending against 
hopeless odds, and an unconditional surrender was the 
result. The Whigs were all ordered to be put to the 



IN THE REVOLUTION 473 

sword. But two of the number escaped. The rest were 
slaughtered as they stood. Captain Butler caught up a 
pitchfork and defended himself until his right hand was 
severed by a sabre stroke. A detachment of the Tories 
was left to meet any burying party that might be sent to 
inter the mangled victims, and especially to secure, if they 
could, another son of Captain James Butler, William, who 
was a captain of rangers and who was expected to hasten 
to the spot. Fortunately William Butler was too far from 
the scene to reach it in time. Women only performed the 
rude rites of burial possible. A large pit was dug, into 
which the bodies were indiscriminately placed ; except 
that a separate grave was prepared by the sister of Captain 
Butler, in which the remains of the father and son were 
deposited.^ In the biographical notices appended to Cur- 
win's Journal and Letters it is claimed that Cuningham 
was not actually present at the massacre, and that when 
he came up he regretted that it had taken place.^ But TJie 
Royal Grazette heralded the affair as one of his achieve- 
ments, and all other authorities have united in charging 
this as one of his atrocities. 

From Cloud's Creek, Cuningham crossed the Saluda 
and proceeded to Hayes's Station, which before had been 
known as Edge Hill, another small American post which 
was in what is now Laurens County, three miles from the 
Newbury line. Colonel Hayes had been warned of his 
danger the night before by Captain Brooks, who sent an 
express, advising him to disband his men and leave the 
post instantly, as Cuningham was in the country, and had 
killed Turner and his men. Hayes did not accredit the 

1 MS. Memoirs of Genl. Wm. Butler, prepared by Hon, A. P. Butler ; 
Johnson's Traditions, 311 ; Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 272 ; 
The Boyal Gazette, November 18, 1781. 

2 Curwiu's Journal and Letters, 644. 



474 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

information, as he had just returned from scouting that 
part of the country and had heard nothing of Cuningham, 
and did not follow the advice, but merely sent off to 
another station for assistance, in case of need. 

It was on a fine morning a few days after the massacre 
at Cloud's Creek, when at ten o'clock a party, led on by 
one John Hood, rode up to the station at full gallop, and 
reaching the piazza of the house, called out in a loud 
voice that none should fire from within, or they would all 
be put to death. Disregarding this warning, a shot was 
fired and one of the Tories killed. Cuningham, arriving 
shortly afterwards, sent a flag with a written message de- 
manding instant surrender, and promising if the Whig 
party surrendered to spare all lives, but declaring, it is 
claimed, that if they resisted, and so caused the spilling 
of his men's blood, he would give them no quarter, but 
put them all to death. Colonel Hayes, trusting to receive 
a reenforcement before the station could be carried, refused 
to surrender, and answered " he would hold out to the 
last." Hayes and his party made a vigorous resistance, 
which lasted for hours ; but Cuningham at last succeeded 
in setting fire to the house, which was of wood, by means 
of ramrods wrapped round with tow dipped in pitch and 
thrown in a blazing state on the roof. Half suffocated, 
Hayes and his party surrendered at discretion. Cuning- 
ham immediately hanged Hayes and another man, Daniel 
Williams, on the pole of a fodder stack. Before they were 
dead, the pole broke, and Cuningham, drawing his sword, 
slew the half-strangled men with his own hand. This he jus- 
tified himself in doing, because of alleged cruelties by Hayes 
to women and children, and of the killing by Williams of 
a favorite follower of his, one Thomas Ellison. Being told 
of the presence of one Cook, who, it was charged, had with 
Ritchie and Moore whipped his brother to death, Cuningham 



IN THE REVOLUTION 475 

ordered him out from the rest and slew hira with his sword. 
He then gave permission to his men to do as they pleased 
with the rest. And all who had rendered themselves ob- 
noxious in any way to the Tories were slain without mercy. 
Each of his men singled out whomsoever he would and 
killed hira forthwith. The execution took place about 
sunset. Only two of the party fell in the action ; fourteen 
were deliberately cut to pieces after their surrender. Their 
names and rank as given by Ramsay were as follows : 
Colonel Joseph Hayes, Captain Daniel Williams, Lieuten- 
ant Christopher Hardy, Lieutenant John Neil, Clement 
Hancock, Joseph Williams, Joseph Irby, Sr., Joseph 
Irby, Jr., John Milvin, James Feris, John Cook, Greaf 
Irby, Benjamin Goodman, Yancey Saxon. Tlie Royal 
G-azette gives two names not mentioned by Ramsay. Tliese 
were probably those of the killed in the action, Captains 
Owen and Leonard. Cuningham had one man killed and 
five wounded.^ 

Colonel Hayes had been in the struggle from its com- 
mencement, and had served gallantly. He had been in 
the battles of Brier Creek and Stono, in the campaign 
against the Cherokees, at Savannah, and at Hanging Rock, 
Musgrove's Mills, King's Mountain, Blackstock, Hammond's 
Store, and Cowpens.^ 

The movements of Cuningham's party were rapid and 
lasted but a few weeks, but their bloody tracks could long 
after be traced. Li their passage up the country, they 
intercepted a convoy of wagons despatched by Pickens to 
the army. Upon being pursued by the Whigs, under Ham- 
mond and Purvis, they separated into several parties, and 
two of them, under Cuningham and Williams, made good 

1 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 273 ; Curwin's Journal and 
Letters, G44, G45 ; 77ie Boyal Gazette, December 8, 1781. 
^ King^s Mountain and its Heroes, 468. 



476 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

their way through the woods, and passing between the posts 
of Orangeburgh and Round O, reached Charlestown in 
safety. A third party that had charge of the prisoners, 
being far advanced towards the mountains, and apprehen- 
sive of being cut off if attempting to retreat, pushed on 
and joined the Indians.^ 

Another active and vigorous Tory leader who appeared 
at this time was Hezekiah Williams, " Colonel," as he was 
called. Following Cuningham, he marched from the forks 
of Edisto, raiding and harassing the Whigs in Ninety 
Six. On October 5 he was met by Major Hugh Middleton 
of Colonel Hammond's regiment, who came up with him 
on Stevens's Creek, when, after a sharp conflict, the Whigs 
were repulsed with a loss of eight men killed, seventeen 
severely and others slightly wounded. Colonel Ham- 
mond coming up, however, with a considerable reenforce- 
ment, Williams retired ; but turned to attack a small post 
known as Vince's Fort on the Three Runs, a branch of the 
Savannah. Arriving there on the 28th, however, he found 
the fort evacuated ; the garrison under Captain Vince had 
retired upon his approach, and but few stragglers fell into 
his hands. 

Early in the year General Greene had concluded a treaty 
with the Cherokees, by which they had engaged to observe 
a neutrality. This was a matter of great importance, saving 
the frontier settlements of North and South Carolina from 
their incursions ; and happy would it have been for the 
people had it been observed, but whenever the cooperation 
of the Indians could be of the least service to the British 
forces, they were induced to break their engagement of 
neutrality. About the same time that Cuninghara's party 
started out on their expedition, and it was believed in 
connection with it, emissaries of the British induced the 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 301-302. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 477 

Cherokee Indians to commence hostilities.^ The Royal 
Grazette of the 13th of October mentions casually, as an 
item of news, that about three weeks before the Cherokees 
had commenced hostilities against the rebel settlements of 
Nolachucky, Watauga, and Holston. 

The first attack was made on Gowen's Fort, in the upper 
part of what is now Greenville County .^ The fort stood 
on the waters of the Pacolet, and had long been a place of 
rendezvous and safety for the Whig families of that sec- 
tion, of both North and South Carolina. Many attempts 
had been made by the Indians and disguised white men to 
capture this station. They had often resorted to art and 
stratagem, to force and violence, but as often failed. I7ie 
Royal Grazette of the 24th of November, 1781, announces 
that about three weeks since a party of loyal militia and 
Cherokee Indians under the command of Mr. Tuft attacked 
and carried a rebel fort on Pacolet River, Gowen's Ferry. 
Thus the official organ of the British authorities assumed 
the full responsibility for a most horrible massacre which 
now took place at this remote post. Who was the Mr. 
Tuft mentioned in the Grazette is not known, but the party 
was not led by any such person ; though it is thus admitted 
that it was composed of loyal militia. This, however, 
the party at the time attempted to conceal. There came 
a formidable band of Cherokees and white men painted 
like Indians, led down the Saluda Mountain by a ban- 
dit well known as " Bloody Bates," who had repeatedly 
filled the country of the Pacolet, Enoree, and Fair Forest 
with plundering and midnight assassinations. This man 

1 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 273. 

2 This was the scene, it may be remembered, of a skirmish in July of 
the year before (1780), in which a party of Georgians had surprised and 
taken a body of Tories. (Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevolution, 1775-80 
(McCrady), 613.) 



478 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

possessed all the vices of his Indian associates without 
a single one of their virtues. After a short but vigorous 
defence, the fort was surrendered, on the condition that the 
unfortunate captives were to receive protection from their 
savage assailants. But no sooner was Bates in possession 
of the fort than, recreant to his word and insensible to the 
ordinary feelings of humanity, he ordered a general and 
indiscriminate massacre of the prisoners. A shocking 
butchery ensued of men, women, and children. Neither 
age, sex, nor his own kindred were spared. A few made 
their escape and some of them in a horribly mangled con- 
dition. Mrs. Thompson, the wife of Abner Thompson, 
afterwards of Greenville District, was saved after having 
been scalped by the Indians. She lived, near the scene, to 
a good old age, notwithstanding the terrible disfigurement. 
Among those who were killed were the Motley family, 
all, it is believed, but one son, who lived to avenge in a 
signal manner the murder of his relations. Many years 
after the close of the Revolution, the country being restored 
to peace and county courts established for the administra- 
tion of justice in the upper part of the State, Bates returned 
from the Cherokee Nation, where he had taken refuge, and 
having stolen some horses, he was pursued, arrested, and 
securely lodged in Greenville jail. He was immediately 
recognized as " the Bloody Bates" and all were rejoicing 
that he- would meet his doom on the gallows. But 
there lived in the district a son of the murdered Motley. 
No sooner did he hear of Bates's arrest than he determined 
to revenge with his own hands the murder of his father, 
mother, brothers, and sisters. Procuring a pair of pistols, 
he sought the prison wherein Bates was confined. From the 
jailer he demanded the keys at the pistol's mouth. They 
were surrendered to him and the prison door opened. Bates 
at once recognized his voice, and knew that not only his 



IN THE REVOLUTION 479 

days, but his minutes, were numbered. Motley seized him 
by the collar and ordered him to say his prayers. In a few 
moments he sent a ball through his head ; then, taking up 
the body, he carried it a few yards from the jail and buried 
it. No one thought of interfering, or of prosecuting Motley 
for the killing of Bates. On the contrary, we are told, he 
continued to live in the district for years afterwards, and 
was always respected and esteemed by his neighbors.^ 

What State in the then confederacy suffered so dread- 
fully as did South Carolina in this terrible struggle ? Not 
only did she endure the ordinary sufferings, fearful as they 
always are, of a people living in a country the seat of war, 
but in her case with the knowledge and concurrence of the 
British government — the government of the mother coun- 
try. The lowest classes were formed into banditti, the 
leaders of which, being the commissioners of his Majesty, 
were turned loose to indulge their private animosities, 
their thirst for blood and rapine, without reference to the 
interest of King or country. Nor only so ; but the savage 
Indians were supplied with arms and ammunition and called 
on to add the horrors of their barbarities to the fratricidal 
strife. And even on the side of the cause of freedom it 
had been found necessary to enlist men for pay by plunder, 
as Congress could afford no money or means for their sup- 
port. 

A curious process had been going on. There can be no 
doubt that until the fall of Charlestown a majority of the 
people of the State had been opposed to the severance of 
the relation of this province to the mother country, and 
that among those so opposed were many, very many, of the 
best and noblest in the land ; but from the fall of the city 
and the advance of the British army a sifting process had 

1 Ramsay's Bevnlution in So. Ca. ; Article Southern Quarterly Jteview, 
April, 1847, Charleston, S.C. 



480 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

begun and continued, by which the better classes and the 
highest characters, with a few notable exceptions, were 
drawn or driven to the American cause, while on the other 
side the lowest elements of society gravitated to the Royal 
standard. Hence the terra " Tory," which had first come 
into use in 1775 as the designation of an honorable party, be- 
came a byword of reproach and infamy which it has scarcely 
lost to this day. 



CHAPTER XXI 

1781 

General Greene's apprehension that Lord Cornwallis 
might attempt a retreat to South Carolina was finally dis- 
pelled by the news of his lordship's investment at York- 
town in September by the combined American and French 
forces under Washington. As soon as the arrival of the 
French fleet under De Grasse had assured the destruction 
of Cornwallis's army, suggestions simultaneously came 
from Philadelphia and South Carolina to Washington for 
the further employment of the allies in the reduction of the 
British forces in South Carolina. As early as September 
12, Mr. Edward Rutledge, who had just been released 
from St. Augustine, wrote to General Washington urging 
a cooperation between the French fleet and the land forces 
to recover Charlestown from the enemy. He said that he 
had consulted the Chevalier de la Luzerne on the subject, 
and laid before him a plan which that minister approved, 
and promised that he would use his influence with Count 
de Grasse to obtain naval aid from him to effect its object.^ 
General Greene also applied to Washington to the same 
effect, and sent on Colonel Lee, hoping that his pressing 
entreaties, engaging address, and military reputation would 
do something towards promoting the favorite project.^ Gen- 
eral Washington approved the plan, and the day after the 
surrender of Cornwallis wrote to the Count suggesting it 

1 Washington's Writings, vol. VIII, 174. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 266. 
VOL. IV. — 2 1 481 



482 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to him. Charlestown, he said, the principal maritime port 
of the British in the southern part of tliis continent, the 
grand deposit and point of sup[)ort of tlie present tiieatre 
of the war, was open to a combined attack, and "might be 
carried with as much certainty as the place just sur- 
rendered. This capture would destroy the last hope which 
induced the enemy to continue the war. 

" It will depend upon your excellency, therefore," he wrote, " to 
terminate the war and enable the allies to dictate the law in a treaty. 
A campaign so generous and so fruitful in consequences could be re- 
served only for the Count de Grasse. It rarely happens that such a 
combination of means as are in our hands at present can be seasonably 
obtained by the most strenuous human exertions; a decisively su- 
perior fleet, the fortune and talents of whose commander overawe all 
the naval force that the most strenuous efforts of the enemy have 
been able to collect ; an army flushed with success demanding only 
to be conducted to new attacks ; and the very season which is proper 
for operating against the point in question." ^ 

The day after he so wrote, General Washington himself 
went on board the admiral's ship both to pay his respects 
and offer his thanks for the services that had been rendered 
by the fleet, and to endeavor to impress upon Count de 
Grasse the importance of the plan he had suggested. He 
returned the same evening, but having promised Lafayette 
the command of a detachment against Wilmington in case 
the Count could be persuaded to undertake the convoy and 
debarkation of the troops, he left that officer for the pur- 
pose of further consultation with the admiral. 

Two days after, Lafayette came back with the report that 
the Count de Grasse would be happy to be able to make 
the expedition to Charlestown, all the advantages of which 
he felt, but the orders of his court, ulterior projects, and 
his engagements with the Spaniards rendered it impossible 
to remain the necessary time for the operations against 
1 Washington's Writings, vol. VIII, 185-186. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 483 

Charlestown; but conditionally promising to assist the 
Marquis against Wilmington, that requiring less time.^ 

This was but a repetition of D'Estaing's conduct be- 
fore Savannah in 1779. A second time the French fleet 
abandoned the Americans just at the point at which the 
most important success might have been obtained. Gen- 
eral Washington did not overstate the position, — Charles- 
town could at this juncture easily have been taken and the 
war ended. But the interests of the States were not al- 
ways the interests of the French allies. 

The fall of Cornwallis, however, enabled Washington 
to send at last some reenforcements to South Carolina. 
The Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia Continentals 
were ordered to General Greene. Colonels Shelby and 
Sevier also joined him about the end of October with five 
hundred men, and a detachment of one hundred and sixty 
North Carolina recruits were added to his infantry. The 
approach of these corps was the signal for preparing for 
active movements, the weather had become cold, the frosts 
had delivered his army from the remains of their agues, 
the survivors of his wounded had rejoined their regiments, 
and the corps under Sumter, Marion, and their officers 
were recruiting and concentrating. 

The intelligence of the surrender of Yorktown reached 
the American camp the last of October, but the ofiicial 
communication was not received until the 9th of Novem- 
ber. The day was observed in camp as a day of jubilee.^ 

Relying upon his increased strength by the arrival of 
Shelby and Sevier, and the reenforcements on the march 
to join him. General Greene determined again to cross the 
Congaree for the long-wished-for purpose of driving the 
enemy into Charlestown. Every consideration induced 

1 Washington's Writings, vol. VIII, 187. 

2 Johnson's Life of Ch-eene, vol. II, 252. 



484 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

this move. Governor Rutledge, who was now with his 
army, was busy reorganizing a State government. He had, 
in pursuance of the powers conferred upon him, issued a 
proclamation for the election of members of a General 
Assembly under the constitution of 1778, and it was of 
the highest importance to recover as much ground as pos- 
sible that elections might generally be held for members 
of the Legislature. Military motives also concurred in 
rendering the movement in the highest degree advisable. 
The surrender of Lord Cornwallis put an end to the pur- 
pose of Greene's remaining north of the Santee, while, on 
the other hand, Marion had received intelligence from 
Charlestown of an intention on the part of the enemy to 
evacuate that place and concentrate his force at Savannah. 
This movement, it is supposed, was contemplated by the 
British on the supposition that some such plan as that 
which had been urged upon De Grasse would be undertaken. 
Greene, it is true, did not credit the information except as 
dependent on an event which he knew, and the enemy 
did not know, would not take place — the cooperation of 
the French fleet. Still, as the apprehension of such a 
combined operation did exist on the part of the enemy, it 
was important for the American general to be in a position 
to meet any such movement should it, upon some false 
alarm, be attempted ; and all his arrangements were accord- 
ingly made. Shelby, Sevier, Horry, and Maham were 
ordered to place themselves under Marion, to act in the 
country between the Santee and Charlestown. Together 
they formed a very efficient corps of mounted infantry 
and riflemen. General Sumter was ordered, at the head 
of his brigade of State troops and a detachment of his 
militia brigade, to take post at Orangeburgh and cover the 
country from the inroads of the Loj^alists from Charles- 
town ; while Pickens, with Colonel Robert Anderson's 



i 



IN THE REVOLUTION 485 

regiment and a part of Colonel Samuel Hammond's, was 
despatched to put down an uprising of the Indians.^ 

In the early part of November Sumter and Marion 
crossed the rivers and advanced upon the enemy. Sumter 
crossed the Congaree on Monday, the 12th, and early the 
following morning Major Blewford, with seventy mounted 
men, was despatched after a Tory Captain Giessendanner, 
who, Sumter was informed, had just arrived in the neigh- 
borhood of Orangeburgh with some wagons escorted by 
sixty men. Two men only were found at Giessendanner's, 
who fired at the party and escaped. Major Moore of 
the State troops, who was to have joined Major Blew- 
ford at Giessendanner's, passed on to Orangeburgh and 
thence set out for Rowe's plantation, two miles distant. 
Unfortunately he fell in with General Cuningham and a 
large~ party lately from Charlestown. The enemy at first 
gave way, but their superior numbers soon prevailed, and 
pressing Moore's men back, the latter gave way in turn 
and were thrown into disorder by a heavy fire from a 
party concealed in a swamp ; a rout ensued. Some of the 
scattered troops reached Major Blewford and with him 
joined Sumter eight miles above Orangeburgh. Cuning- 
ham's force was upwards of 500 men. Sumter had 
with him 418. ^ This reverse caused Sumter to fall 
back ; but his advance had been fortunately timed to 
check the further progress of General Cuningham who 
had issued from Charlestown upon a more formidable 
expedition to the upper country, than those of which an 
account was given in the last chapter. General Marion 
was also checked in his advance by encountering at Wan- 
toot Colonel Stuart, who had returned to the field, at the 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 258; Johnson's Traditions, 615. 

2 Sumter's letter to Greene, November 14, 1781, Nightingale Collection, 
Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 56. 



486 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

head of nearly two thousand men. The enemy, it seems, 
were at this time seriously engaged in preparing to sustain 
a siege in Charlestown, anticipating the cooperation of the 
French, and were laying in provisions and collecting the 
slaves in the country, first for fortifying Charlestown, and 
then to be appropriated as plunder.^ 

On the 18th of November the camp at the High Hills was 
a second time broken up ; and as the route to be pursued 
led the army away from the support of Marion, who was 
charged with guarding the left of the army on its march. 
Captain Eggleston, with the Legion strengthened by a de- 
tachment from the Virginia line, was ordered to join him. 
The main army then took up the line of march on the 
route by Simons's and McCord's ferries through Orange- 
burgh to Riddlesperger's, thence by the Indian Fields road 
to Ferguson's Mill, where that road crosses the Edisto, 
intending to take post at Mr. Sanders's plantation on the 
Round O. Greene's intention appears to have been to 
take a position on the Four Hole Swamp in the parish of 
St. George, Dorchester, east of the Edisto, about thirty miles 
from Charlestown, for the double purpose of covering the 
country beyond him and controlling the movements of the 
enemy on his right towards Savannah ; but an event had 
now occurred which rendered it indispensable that he 
should have the Edisto between himself and the enemy. 

It was on the sufficiency of the force assembled under 
Marion to keep in check that of the enemy under Stuart 
that Greene had ventured to advance to the Four Holes, 
or meditated taking a position so much exposed to an 
attack from Charlestown. The mountaineers under Shelby 
and Sevier constituted the reenforceraent upon which he 
had ventured into the field. And this force, to his aston- 
ishment, now deserted him. He had been given to under- 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 268. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 487 

stand that they were to remain in service " until the spring 
of the year or until Charlestown was reduced." To his 
disappointment and surprise they all abandoned Marion 
by the 25th of November. Johnson supposes that this 
was caused by Shelby's obtaining leave of absence, or per- 
haps because the service at the time was not sufficiently 
active for their habits. Greene had warned Marion that 
he must give them something to do, or they would become 
dissatisfied. 1 But in all his efforts to effect this Marion 
had been unsuccessful. He had approached the enemy, 
but could not tempt him from his encampment. With 
numbers known to be decidedly superior to the Americans, 
it was with chagrin that Marion found it impossible to 
induce him to take the field. And it was not until Stuart 
decamped from Wantoot and retired near to the Goose 
Creek bridge that Marion discovered the cause. The 
orderly of Colonel, now General, Stuart — he having lately 
been promoted — fell into the hands of Marion, and on him 
was found a return from which it appeared that out of 
2272 men the enemy had 928 on the sick list. To keep 
hold on public opinion, to tiommand the country, or to col- 
lect provisions and plunder slaves, the enemy had kept the 
field in the Low-Country amidst the swamps and rice fields 
during the whole fall, the sickliest season of the year. To 
the recently arrived Europeans this was most deadly ; and 
very many of them fell a prey to disease. 

The only services in which the mountaineers were 
employed while with Marion were in attacks upon the 
post at Fair Lawn and on the redoubts at Wappetaw in 
St. Thomas's Parish. Detachments of about 200 of them, 
supported by Maham's cavalry of about 180, were in both 
instances employed under the command of Colonel Shelby. 
The latter place, on being approached, was abandoned, for 
1 Johoson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 260. 



488 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

General Stuart was then drawing in his forces under the 
protection of Charlestown. 

The attack on Fair Lawn was made while the enemy lay 
at Wantoot. A garrison of considerable strength had been 
usually kept at that post to cover the landing-place on 
Cooper River; but when the main army of the British lay 
in advance of it, the garrison had been weakened, no doubt 
upon the supposition that its services were rendered 
unnecessary. Marion knew that the garrison was re- 
duced, and determined to strike a blow turning the enemy's 
left, and moving rapidly into their rear. The landing- 
place was covered by a fort of too much strength to be 
carried by assault with such troops as Shelby's and 
Maham's ; but at the distance of half a mile was Colleton's 
house, a strong brick building built at a very early period, 
and known to have been constructed for defence as well as 
comfort. This had been enclosed by a strong abatis, and 
being on the route from Charlestown to Monck's Corner, 
had been used as a station for their troops and convoys in 
passing from post to post. It was sufficiently capacious to 
cover a party of considerable strength, and was unassail- 
able by cavalry, the only force from which sudden incur- 
sions could be apprehended. It was also a convenient 
depot in the transportation of negroes, stock, etc., 
taken above the British posts and moving to Charlestown, 
and had been used also as a hospital. 

In passing the post at Wantoot, Maham was ordered to 
show himself and to endeavor to draw the British cavalry 
into the field. The manoeuvre did not succeed, but it 
brought out a strong detachment to tread on his heels and 
preclude the possibility of his effecting anything further 
unless with great despatch. 

On approaching Fair Lawn on the morning of the 27th 
of November, everything within the abatis indicated resist- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 489 

ance ; and the loss of time, with the fort in view and the 
enemy in his rear, must have resulted in disappointment. 
A party of riflemen were at once ordered to dismount and 
to move as infantry, while the remainder of the corps, 
headed by the cavalry, advanced boldly into the field and 
demanded a surrender. No resistance was made and the 
place surrendered at discretion. In it were found three 
hundred stands of arms, many stores of value, some sick, 
and eighty convalescents. The medical men were paroled, 
and the convalescents carried off on horseback behind 
Maham's men. But the house with its contents and the 
abatis were committed to flames.^ 

General Stuart, insolently addressing General Marion 
through the adjutant general instead of writing himself, 
complained of the taking and burning of this place as an 
outrage upon a parcel of sick and helpless soldiers in a 
hospital. " The burning an Hospital," he wrote, " and drag- 
ging away a number of dying people to expire in swamps 
is a species of barbarity hitherto unknown in civilized 
nations — especially when that hospital has been left with- 
out a guard for its defence — that could justify an attack 
upon the defenceless inhabitants." ^ This complaint was 
communicated by Marion to General Greene, who at once 
called upon Colonel Maham for a report of the facts. He 
wrote to Marion : " I shall be obliged to Colonel Maham to 
give me a particular report of the condition of the prisoners 
he made as well as the manner of making them, also the 
special reasons which induced him to burn the Hospital. 
I have not the least doubt that the burning the Hospital 
was to destroy the stores, which could not be effected in 
any other way ; but I wish to have materials to con- 
tradict their charges with." ^ We have no record of the 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 260-262. 

2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 213. » Ibid., 215. 



490 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

report then called for; but the practical answer to the 
charge was the delivering at the High Hills, the American 
depot, of eighty prisoners all able to bear arms.^ An enemy- 
has no right to protect a depot of stores, arms, and plunder 
by hoisting over it a hospital flag. 

Major William Cuningham now again made his appear- 
ance, dashing into Orangeburgh, and surprising Colonel 
Richard Hampton, killing eleven of his men, and dispersing 
the rest without the loss of a man to his own party .^ 

General Greene received with astonishment the intelli- 
gence of the intended return of the mountaineers. Upon this 
reenforcement he had ventured across the Santee, and was 
now too far advanced to recede. Marion, also relying on 
this support, had passed the Santee and penetrated down 
the country on the enemy's right. The most pressing en- 
treaties were despatched to prevail on the mountaineers to 
remain, but before the message reached Marion's camp, 
there was not one of them left. Fortunately, however, 
Greene's movement across the Congaree had induced 
Stuart to draw toward Charlestown and leave Marion in 
safety; and that movement of the enemy, evincing his igno- 
rance of the actual state of the American army, or a con- 
sciousness of his own weakness, induced Greene to 
undertake an enterprise calculated both to confirm the 
enemy in his opinion of the American strength, and, by 
forcing him into Charlestown without risking an action, to 
secure the entire command of the State. This was an 
important object just at this time, as it would assist Gov- 
ernor Rutledge in his plans for the election of the General 
Assembly he was about to convene.^ 

With these views. General Greene, leaving the army on 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 263. 

2 The Boyal Gazette, November 21, 1781. 
"Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 264. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 491 

its march under the comraaiid of Colonel Williams, moved 
briskly forward towards Dorchester at the head of about 
two hundred cavalry of Lee's and Washington's com- 
mands, and one hundred drawn from Sumter's. The infantry 
consisted of those of the Legion and detachments from the 
Maryland and Virginia lines. In the absence of Washing- 
ton, who was a prisoner, and Lee, who was an invalid, the 
command of the cavalry was given to Colonel Wade Hamp- 
ton,^ who, in his short career, had already risen high in 
the confidence of the general in command and of his froops. 
Colonel Williams was directed to advance by easy 
marches to the Four Hole, a branch of the Edisto, while 
the general hastened by a circuitous route in the hope 
that he would surprise the post at Dorchester, garrisoned 
at the time by 400 infantry, all the British cavalry, not, 
however, exceeding 150, and some militia. But notwith- 
standing the celerity of his movements, the pursuit of the 
least-frequented paths, and every precaution for preventing 
intelligence, he was so watched and surrounded by Loyalists 
in the woods and swamps that notice of his approach pre- 
ceded him half a day, and the enemy lay on their arms all the 
night of the 30th, expecting an attack. As Greene did not 
appear, at a late hour on the 1st of December a reconnoi- 
tring party of fifty Loyalists was despatched for intelli- 
gence. Hampton's advance guard fell in with this party, 
and suffered but few of them to escape. Twenty or thirty, 
chiefly Loyalists, were killed, wounded, or taken, and such 
an alarm excited by the presence of the general and the 
belief that his whole American force was upon them, that 
during the night the garrison destroyed everything, threw 
their cannon into the Ashley River, and retreated to Charles- 
town. ^ The fort at Dorchester was so situated that a 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 264. 

' Ihid. ; Greene's letter to Sumter, Sumter's MSS. 



492 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

retreat from it was practicable either by land or water, and 
either on the east or west side of the river, whichever was 
most secure from annoyance. A bridge on the east side 
of the river being taken up, the advance of the Americans 
on that side was stopped ; but Greene could not have pur- 
sued, as the enemy was too strong for the force he had 
with him. Their infantry exceeded five hundred. 

The enemy halted and was reenforced at the Quarter 
House, about five miles from the city, where the neck is 
very narrow ; and General Stuart making a simultaneous 
movement from Goose Creek bridge to the same point, 
all the force that could be summoned from Charlestown 
joined them, and the whole were actively engaged in pre- 
paring to resist an immediate attack.^ 

The Royal Crazette of November 7th announced the 
arrival of General Leslie and a corps of artillery for the 
garrison. To this had also been added the garrison 
of Wilmington under Colonel Craig, which, upon the 
approach of Lafayette, had evacuated that town. Gen- 
eral Leslie, who relieved General Stuart of command, had 
now a force in the town and its immediate neighborhood of 
3300 men besides 1000 Loyalists. But so alarmed was he 
at the approach of Greene and the anticipated siege, that 
he resolved to embody into regiments the young and active of 
the slaves that had recently been crowded into the town, 
— a measure which proved most unpopular, and was aban- 
doned when the alarm subsided. 

Count Kosciuszko, who was serving as an engineer on 
Greene's staff, had preceded the army and had selected San- 
ders's plantation on the Round O as a proper position for 
an encampment. This place is situated between the 
swamp or river of that name, and the Ashepoo, about forty 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene^ vol. II, 264, 265 ; Memoirs of the War of 
1776 (Lee), 523-624. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 493 

or fifty miles to the southwest of Charlestown, and ten 
northeast of the present Walterboro, thus commanding 
the communication between Charlestown and Savannah. 

The whole British force was thus crowded into the town 
and the narrow isthmus, or neck, as it is called, between the 
Cooper and the Ashley rivers. To relieve this Colonel 
Craig, the commandant of the garrison of Wilmington, 
with some additional infantry and cavalry, was detached 
to John's Island to the south of the town, where most of 
the cattle collected for the British army were at pasture, 
where long forage was procurable for the cavalry, where 
cooperation with the garrison of Charlestown was con- 
venient, and whence infantry might be readily transported 
along the interior navigation to Savannah.^ 

General Greene took up his headquarters at Round O 
on the 7th of December. Marion was advanced nearer to 
Charlestown to keep the right of the enemy in check. He 
took post at Wadboo on the eastern side of the Cooper.^ 
Sumter occupied Orangeburgh and the Four Holes. Colonel 
Wade Hampton with fifty of the State cavalry kept open 
the communication between Sumter and Marion. Colonels 
Harden and Wilkinson watched the enemy's movements on 
the south, while Colonel Lee, who had rejoined the army, 
in command of the light detachment posted in advance, 
kept the enemy from prying into the real weakness of the 
American army. This was indeed necessary, for the invest- 
ing force did not at this time number eight hundred men, 
nor had the army four rounds of ammunition to a man.^ 

Prior to General Greene's leaving the High Hills the last 
time, he had been straitened for ammunition. For ten days 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 265 ; Memoirs of the War of 1776 
(Lee), 524. 

2 James's Life of Marion, 148. 

8 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 266, 



494 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

after he was ready to march he had been detained there for 
no other cause. A small supply had arrived before the march 
of the main army, and he had despatched officers in the hope 
of obtaining some addition to his stock from the stores cap- 
tured at Yorktown. But no ammunition had arrived, whilst 
all were clamoring, from Georgia to Santee, for cartridges.^ 
The quartermaster's department was also in such a con- 
dition that, had the army depended upon it for subsistence, 
General Greene could not have ventured to advance. 
Indeed, to relieve this department of this heavy part of its 
duties was one of the principal motives for taking the 
position at Round O.^ Colonel Lee thus grandiloquently 
describes the section, into which he now for the first 
time entered.^ The first day's march, he says, brought 
the detachments to the country settled by the original 
emigrants into Carolina. The scene was both new and 
delightful. Vestiges, though clouded by war, every- 
where appeared of the wealth and taste of the inhabit- 
ants. Spacious edifices, rich and elegant gardens, with 
luxuriant and extensive rice plantations, were to be seen 
on every side. This change in the aspect of inanimate 
nature could not fail to excite emotions of pleasure the 
more vivid because so rare. During our continued marches 
and countermarches never before had we been solaced 
with the prospect of so much comfort. Here we were not 
confined to one solitary mansion where a few, and a few 
only, might enjoy the charms of taste and the luxury of 
opulence. The rich repast was widespread, and when to 
the exterior was added the fashion, politeness, and hospital- 
ity of the interior, we became enraptured with our changed 
condition, and the resolve of never yielding up this charm- 
ing region but with life became universal. To crown our 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 268. « /jj^^. 

3 Memoirs of the War of 1776, 525. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 495 

bliss, the fair sex shone in its brightest lustre. With the 
ripest and most symmetrical beauty, our fair compatriots 
blended sentimental dignity and delicate refinement, the 
sympathetic shade of melancholy, and the dawning smile 
of hope, the arrival of their new guests opening to them 
the prospect of happier times. In more prosaic language, 
Greene had now been able to move the army into a rich 
and plentiful country, which had been comparatively little 
devastated by the war. Prevost had made a rapid incur- 
sion through it in 1779, nearly three years before, and had 
done some mischief, and during the siege of Charlestown, 
two years before, the British foraging parties had made 
free with stock and provisions ; but for more than eighteen 
months this part of the country had suffered little, Marion 
and Harden in their raids doing as little damage as possi- 
ble to the property of the people, who they knew at heart 
were in sympathy with their cause. True it was that 
many of the estates of the Whigs had been sequestered by 
the British authorities and maintained for the supply of 
their army. But this measure had the good effect, in the 
case of those owners who had fled to the American camp, 
or been imprisoned, of preserving these plantations in at 
least some degree of order, though Governor Mathews had 
occasion to observe to General Leslie that in many cases 
they had been stripped of negroes and of horses and cattle. 
In assuming the position at Round O, therefore, Greene 
had greatly improved the opportunity of subsisting his 
army, while he added to its strength by releasing so many 
more of those who had yet regarded themselves bound by 
their paroles. 

There was another consideration of great importance in 
the move to this position. It had at first been determined 
by Governor Rutledge and his Council to convene the 
General Assembly at Camden, but General Greene, after 



496 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

his excursion to Dorchester, had, with an escort of cavalry, 
reconnoitred the country between the Edisto and Ashepoo 
and found it possessed in his opinion of sufficient military 
advantages to admit his securing Jacksonborough from 
danger. He had therefore warmly pressed the Governor 
and Council to convene the Legislature at this place, for 
the double purpose of presenting on the one hand the 
evidence of a complete recovery of the State, while at the 
same time it held them secure from any sudden attempt 
from the Loyalists of the Saluda or Deep River, such as 
had been successfully made on Governor Burke in North 
Carolina, and was afterward repeated in the Georgia Legis- 
lature. Boldness and caution alike therefore sanctioned 
the holding of the Legislature at Jacksonborough, which 
the position of the army now fully covered.^ 

Colonel John Laurens, who had been included in the 
capitulation of Charlestown, had been soon released, his 
exchange having been expedited by Congress for the pur- 
pose of sending him on a special embassy to Paris, that 
he might urge the necessity of a vigorous cooperation on 
the part of France. He had sailed in February, 1781, and 
there, in conjunction with Dr. Franklin and Count De 
Vergennes, arranged the plan of the campaign of the year 
which eventuated in the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and 
finally in a termination of the war. Within six months 
from the day Colonel Laurens left America he returned 
and brought with him the concerted plan of combined 
operations. Ardent to rejoin the army, he remained only 
long enough at Philadelphia to make a report of his nego- 
tiations to Congress, before setting out to resume his place 
as one of the aids of General Washington. He was then 
at his post in the field again when the operations he had 
arranged for in the cabinet at Paris began. In the course 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 278. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 497 

of the siege he, with Colonel Hamilton, led the storming 
parties at Yorktown which hastened the surrender of the 
British. He had thus had the honor of negotiating the 
articles of Cornwallis's capitulation on behalf of Washing- 
ton. This concluded, he hastened at once to rejoin his 
comrades in his native State in their struggle for its re- 
covery, now so far advanced to a successful completion. ^ 
General Greene at once formed and placed under his com- 
mand a detachment charged with cooperating in the meas- 
ures previously adopted for confining the enemy to the 
limits to which he was now restricted. 

Laurens was so great a favorite, and so well known 
in the Low-Country of South Carolina, that he soon 
found the means of opening a communication with 
Charlestown, and through one of the channels of infor- 
mation he had opened he learned, on the 25th of December, 
the rumor that a fleet from Ireland with three thousand 
troops on board was within two days' sail of the bar ; that 
some of the officers had actually arrived, and that a reen- 
forcement of two thousand more was hourly expected 
from New York. Lee, who was at the same time with 
his detachment low down Ashley River, received the same 
intelligence ; and reeking couriers from both these officers 
arrived at the same moment in the American camp. 
General Greene received these reports as confirmation 
of an event he had repeatedly foretold, that the British 
army to the South would be reenforced as well to main- 
tain the uti posidetis principle for which England was 
negotiating, ^ as because the war must languish altogether 

1 Ramsay's So. Ca., vol. II, 499, 500 ; Marshall's Life of [Vashington, 
vol. IV, 465. 

2 The opposition in Parliament in England claimed that no treaty of 
peace shonld have been entered into with the American Colonies, which 
required the evacuation of New York and Charlestown and the abandon- 



498 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

unless pressed in this quarter. Recent movements among 
the Indians which have been mentioned, the never failing 
presage of movements in the British army, had also taken 
place; her own diminished and ill-provided condition invited 
attack, and the source of this information appeared of un- 
questionable authority. General Greene was much alarmed, 
and the night was consumed in preparing despatches to 
Count Rochambeau, the governors of Virginia, Maryland, 
and North Carolina, earnestly soliciting immediate support. 
To insure despatch and effect to these applications and 
hasten the advance of St. Clair ^ and Wayne ^ with the 
Continental troops on their way to join him, officers of 
known zeal and fidelity were made the bearers of these 
messages. 

Had the intelligence which had produced such excite- 
ment in the American camp been really true, there 
can be little doubt, says Johnson, that Greene must once 
more have yielded up all his hard-earned conquests. 
Count Rochambeau pleaded the want of instruction from 
his court, and could promise no support until Greene 
should be pushed back into Virginia. North Carolina, 
since the capture of Governor Burke, was in such a state 
of confusion that she could not get her Legislature 
together. And Virginia, convulsed by a quarrel with 
her own governor and with Morris, the financier of the 
United States, without a farthing in her treasury or a 

ment of the Loyalists. The cities, being still in the actual occupation 
of the British forces, should have been retained. (Wraxall's Memoirs, 
vol. Ill, 805.) 

1 Major-General Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania, in command of the 
detachment of Washington's array consisting of the Pennsylvania and 
Virginia lines, nov? on the march to join Greene. 

2 Brigadier-General Anthony Wayne of Pennsylvania, " Mad Anthony" 
as he was called for his reckless courage, commanding the Pennsylvania 
line under St. Clair. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 499 

prospect of any kind, so impoverished that her thousand 
recruits in depot were kept from perishing only by the 
private advances of the gentlemen at the head of the 
War Department, could only promise that those recruits 
should be immediately marched to headquarters. Militia, 
she could send none.^ 

Under the pressure of this alarm. General Greene ad- 
dressed to Governor Rutledge a letter which was the 
subject of much animadversion at the time. It was, how- 
ever, but a renewal of the scheme proposed by Colonel 
John Laurens in 1780 for embodying negro troops. At 
great length General Greene laid before Governor Rutledge 
the desperate condition of affairs, notwithstanding the pres- 
ent reoccupation of so much of the State. He pointed out 
the preparation the British were making in Charlestown 
for its defence, the measures taken to incorporate the 
Tories, embodying the negroes on their side, and the in- 
citement of the savages on the frontier. He represented 
that, should the enemy have in contemplation offensive 
operations in this quarter, they would undoubtedly reen- 
force their army here and oblige him to fall back, and once 
more give the enemy command of the most fertile part of 
the State. That then a change of sentiment might also 
take place among the inhabitants — new difficulties arise, 
and the issue of the war be protracted, if not rendered 
doubtful. Good policy, therefore, dictated that they should 
strengthen themselves by every means the natural resources 
of the country would admit. He represented the futility 
of depending upon the North for assistance. Then, dis- 
cussing the military situation, he proceeded : — 

" The natural strength of the country in point of numbers appears 
to me to consist much more in the blacks than in the whites. Could 
they be incorporated and employed for its defence it would afford you 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 271, 272. 



500 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

double security. That they would make good soldiers I have not the 
least doubt ; and I am persuaded the State has it not in its power to 
give sufficient reinforcement without incorporating them either to 
secure the country, if the enemy mean to act vigorously upon offen- 
sive plan, or furnish a force sufficient to dispossess them of Charles- 
town should it be defensive. 

" The number of whites in this State is too small, and the state of 
your finances too low, to raise a force in any other way. Should the 
measure be adopted it may prove a good means of preventing the 
enemy from further attempts upon this country, when they find they 
have not only the whites, but the blacks also to contend with ; and I 
believe it is generally agreed that if the natural strength of the country 
could have been employed in its defence, the enemy would have found 
it little less than impracticable to have got footing here, much more 
to have overrun the country ; by which the inhabitants have suffered 
infinitely greater loss than would have been sufficient to have given 
you perfect security. And I am persuaded the incorporation of a 
part of the negroes would rather tend to secure the fidelity of others 
than excite discontent mutiny and desertion among them. The force 
I would ask for this purpose in addition to what we have and what 
may probably join us from the northward or from the militia of this 
State would be four regiments, two upon the Continental and two 
upon the State establishment : a corps of pioneer and a corps of 
artificers each to consist of about eighty men. The two last may be 
either on a temporary or permanent establishment as may be most 
agreeable to the State. The others should have their freedom, and be 
clothed and treated in all respects as other soldiers without which 
they will be unfit for the duties expected from them." 

Such a suggestion could not fail to arouse great opposi- 
tion. And this not only because of the practical confisca- 
tion of property which it implied ; though on the ground 
of the negro's pecuniary value as property the British 
government had failed in every attempt to utilize the 
negro population as a military power. When Governor 
Rutledge reached Philadelphia upon his escape from the 
State in 1780, he reported, it is related, that the negroes 
offered up prayers in favor of England in the hope that 
she would give them a chance to escape from slavery. But 



IN THE REVOLUTION 501 

the British officers, regarding negroes as valuable spoil, 
defeated every plan for employing them as soldiers on the 
side of England.^ The planters, of course, were opposed 
to a measure which might take from them the ablest and 
most intelligent of their slaves. But, far beyond this, 
there was an instinctive repugnance and aversion to the 
idea of calling upon slaves to rescue the liberties of free- 
men. And still further and deeper was their resentment 
at the proposition that, having given these negroes their 
freedom, they were to be clothed and treated in all respects 
as other soldiers. This suggestion was an offence to the 
rank and file of the army, militia, volunteer, and regular 
alike. Indeed, the indignation at the proposition, we are 
told, increased with the descent in the grade of the army. 
The attempt to carry out the scheme would, doubtless, 
have ended in mutiny. 

The proposition was not, however, rejected absolutely 
by Governor Rutledge and the Council now assembled with 
him. It had been broached in the Legislature before, and as 
that body was now soon to assemble, it was resolved to 
submit it to their decision.^ 

It having been arranged between Governor Rutledge 
and General Greene that the Legislature should be assem- 
bled at Jacksonborough, a small village on the southwest- 
ern bank of the Edisto, the army moved from the Round 
O, and crossed the Edisto on the 16th of December, taking 
position at the plantation of Colonel Skirving, six miles 
in advance of Jacksonborough, on the road leading to 
Charlestown. In order to secure the safety of the Legisla- 
ture at this place, it became necessary to guard against the 
detachment on John's Island under Colonel Craig. From 
the end of John's Island, that is, from Wadmalaw Sound, 
Jacksonborough was not beyond striking distance, as upon 

» Bancroft, vol. V, 413. 2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 275. 



602 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

a full tide by the aid of their galleys, that place might be 
approached by the enemy, while the communication with 
Charlestown by James Island rendered it easy to throw 
reenforceraents upon John's Island unperceived. It was 
important, therefore, to drive the enemy from this post. 
As Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens was personally intimately 
acquainted with this part of the country, not only from 
his general familiarity with this section, but from his hav- 
ing been here engaged under Moultrie in resisting Prdvost's 
invasion, General Greene committed to Lieutenant-Colonel 
Lee and himself the subject for their consideration. It 
was soon ascertained, not only that the island was accessi- 
ble, but that the British commander, relying on his galleys, 
was quite unapprehensive of an attack. 

There was a point between the Stono and Edisto at 
which the island, or peninsula, more properly speaking, 
was formerly connected to the high land by a piece of 
marsh. To complete the inland communication between 
Charlestown and the Edisto by way of the Stono, this 
marsh had been cut through, and the canal was known 
as the New Cut. At low water this place was fordable, 
and to guard the pass two galleys had been moored at con- 
venient distances, but necessarily somewhat remotely sepa- 
rated in order to prevent their grounding. Laurens and 
Lee had made all the necessary inquiries before the army 
moved from the Round O. And these two enterprising 
young commanders now solicited permission of the general 
to attempt the passage by night between the galleys and 
the surprise of the British detachment under Colonel 
Craig. The attempt was readily sanctioned, and the 
night of the 13th of December fixed for its execution. 

The main army moved by concert on the 12th on the 
route to Wallace's bridge, over the Caw Caw Swamp, or 
river on the road to Rantowles, to draw the attention of the 



IN THE REVOLUTION 503 

enemy from the real point of attack, while the two light 
detachments under the command of Colonel Laurens, cross- 
ing the country from the Ashley River, headed the north 
branch of the Stono on the night of the 18th, and advanced 
to New Cut, which is at the head of the south branch. 
The main army, intended to cover and support the light 
detachments, had halted as if to go into camp for the 
night, but was put again in motion soon after dark ; and 
the general in person reached the Cut before the hour of 
low water, at which alone the ford was passable. Here 
he found the attacking party in a strange state of embar- 
rassment. The detachments of Lee and Laurens formed 
each a separate column on the march, the former led by 
Colonel Lee in person, the latter by Major Hamilton.^ 
Colonel Laurens, in command of the whole as the senior 
officer,^ rode with Lee, whose column was in the advance. 
Hamilton's had not moved from the ground precisely at 
the time that the first column was put in motion ; but no 
mistake was apprehended, as he was furnished with a guide. 
Before reaching the point, however, where the path which 
led to the ford turned off from the road they were upon, 
Hamilton's guide deserted him; the silence necessary to 
be observed prevented the detachments from communicat- 
ing by signals, and Hamilton saw now no resource but 
hastening on in the hope to overtake the first column. In 

1 Major James Hamilton of Pennsylvania, captain First Continental 
Infantry, March 10 to December 31, 1776 ; captain First Pennsylvania, 
January 1, 1777, taken prisoner at Fort Montgomery October 6, 1777; major 
Second Pennsylvania, December 10, 1778 (Historian), had just arrived 
with Pennsylvania Line. After Revolution, settled in South Carolina, and 
took conspicuous part in her affairs ; was the father of the famous nullifi- 
cation governor, James Hamilton, Jr. 

2 Colonel Laurens, it will be recollected, had been made lieutenant- 
colonel by special act of Congress March 29, 1779. Colonel Lee's com- 
mission was not issued until October, 1780. 



504 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

his haste he passed the road to the ford, and pushing on 
with redoubled speed as the hour of low water approached, 
he so increased the distance from the first column that 
messengers despatched to find him returned in despair. In 
his anxiety to reach the ford Hamilton, without a guide, 
had attempted a short route across the fields, which failed 
him, and the second column was thus entirely lost. 

The time for executing the enterprise passed by. Colonel 
Lee, who had crossed over to the island, was necessarily 
recalled before the height of the tide should cut off his 
retreat. 

But the object could not be relinquished without some 
effort to accomplish it, and General Greene resolved upon 
forcing his passage into the island. A boat was procured, 
and while the artillery drove their galleys from a station 
where they could annoy the Americans, Colonel Laurens 
passed over the Cut and penetrated to Craig's encampment. 
But the alarm occasioned by the narrow escape of the 
morning had demonstrated to the enemy the insecurity of 
his situation, and Colonel Laurens found the island 
abandoned by all but a few stragglers, who were made 
prisoners. The cattle also had been driven across the 
river or dispersed in the woods. The main object had, 
however, been effected without loss, and the enemy had 
retreated so precipitately that the schooner which con- 
tained their baggage and one hundred invalids was very 
near falling into Laurens's hands. General Greene in his 
official communication indulged in his usual consolation : 
if matters had all gone right he ivould have achieved a 
great victory. " Had our party crossed the first night," 
he wrote, "the enterprise would have been completely 
successful. The enemy had between four to five hundred 
men on the island," etc. But the attacking force under 
Laurens and Lee could scarcely have exceeded this 



IN THE REVOLUTION 605 

number; and reenforcements could easily have been sent 
to Craig from James Island. The most that can be said is 
that had there been no miscarriage in the execution of the 
bold enterprise, itself replete with difficulties, there was 
great hope of a successful issue. But in war victory is 
never assured until achieved. Had the whole party 
crossed the Cut without misadventure, some later accident 
might have alike resulted in defeat. 

Johnson has been followed in this account ^ in preference 
to Lee. The latter wrote evidently from recollection, with- 
out official documents, for he is mistaken in his chronology 
as well as in other matters in regard to the expedition. 
He writes as if he was in equal, if not in actual, command 
with Laurens. Whatever questions there may have been 
as between officers in the Continental establishment and 
those of the State, there could be none between those in 
the same line. Precedence and command were absolutely 
settled by seniority; and Laurens was Lee's senior as a 
lieutenant-colonel in the Continental line by more than a 
year. He was, as Johnson points out, present with Lee in 
the advance because he was in the command of the whole. 
Lee states that the execution of the enterprise was 
appointed for the 28th of December, and represents it as 
taking place probably on that night, while Johnson asserts 
that it took place on the 13th. There is certainly con- 
siderable difficulty in fixing the exact date of this adven- 
ture, but that Lee is mistaken is evident from the fact that 
by his own account Captain Armstrong commanded in the 
expedition a squadron of the cavalry of the Legion.^ 
Whereas the semi-weekly Royal Gazette of Saturday, 
December 29, 1781, to Wednesday, January 2, 1782, 
announces the capture by Major Coffin of Captain Arm- 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 273-281. 
^Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 532, 



506 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

strong at Garden's plantation near Dorchester on Sunday- 
last, to wit, the 30th, which affair, again by Lee's account, 
occurred certainly several days after the expedition to 
John's Island. It is true that Mr. Henry Lee, in maintain- 
ing the correctness of his father's statement, publishes 
letters of General Greene to Lee upon the subject, appar- 
ently dated December 21st and 28th ; ^ but the latter date 
is probably a misprint or mistake for the 23d. Upon Lee's 
theory there would scarcely be time for the movements 
described by him to have taken place before the established 
date of the capture of Captain Armstrong by the contem- 
poraneous publication of The Royal G-azetfe. 

Johnson observes that the expedition to John's Island 
concluded the campaign of 1781 ; but it did not do so 
entirely, for the affair in which Armstrong was captured 
took place, as we have just seen, before the end of the 
year. After the expedition to John's Island was over, 
Lee returned to his position of observation on the Ashley. 
The country between Dorchester and the Quarter House 
was occasionally visited by his light parties, which in- 
fringed upon the domain claimed by the sometime British 
army of South Carolina, now garrison of Charlestowu. A 
well-concerted enterprise was projected by the comman- 
dant to repress the liberties taken by Lee's parties. Major 
Coffin, with a detachment of cavalry composed of different 
corps, was detached in the night to occupy specified points 
for their surprise. It so happened that Captain Armstrong 
of the Legion cavalry had been sent to Dorchester by 
General Greene the night before, for the purpose of con- 
ferring with a spy from Charlestown. On the approach 
of morning Armstrong advanced to Dorchester, and meet- 

1 Campaign in the Carolinas (H. Lee), 503-505. We may also observe 
that the letters fail to establish, as Mr. Lee supposes, that Lieutenant-Colonel 
Lee, the junior, commanded his senior, Colonel Laurens, in this expedition. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 607 

ing a party of dragoons sent forward for the purpose of 
decoying any of the American detachments traversing this 
quarter, he rushed upon it. Armstrong, it was said, was 
one of the most gallant of the brave, too apt in the con- 
fidence he reposed in his sword to lose sight of those con- 
siderations which prudence suggested. Eager to close 
with his flying foe, he pursued vehemently, and fell into 
the snare spread for his destruction. The moment he dis- 
covered his condition he turned upon his enemy and drove 
at him in full gallop. The bold effort succeeded so far as 
to open a partial avenue of retreat, which was seized by his 
subalterns and some of his dragoons, but Armstrong was 
taken — the first and only mounted officer of the Legion, 
it was said, captured during this war. Lee states that four 
privates were also taken. The Royal Q-azette says that 
seven rebels were killed and eight taken prisoners, among 
whom were Captain Armstrong and Richard Ellis, who 
formerly kept the Quarter House. ^ The contemporaneous 
evidence of the Gazette is again preferable to the recollec- 
tion of Lee after many years. Thus closed the military 
operations of the year 1781. 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 538 ; The Boyal Gazette, Decem- 
ber 29, 1781, to January 2, 1782. 



CHAPTER XXII 

1781 

It will be recollected that upon the approach of Sir 
Henry Clinton in February, 1780, the General Assembly 
then sitting in Charlestown had broken up, delegating 
"till ten days after their next session to the Governor 
John Rutledge, Esquire, and such of his Council as he 
could conveniently consult, a power to do everything nec- 
essary for the public good, except the taking away the life 
of a citizen without a legal trial." Before the investment 
of the town had been completed, the governor with three of 
his Council, Colonel Charles Pinckney, Daniel Huger, and 
John L. Gervais, had gone out of the lines so as to avoid 
the capture of the whole government upon the fall of the 
town then impending. Governor Rutledge proceeded to 
Camden, where he remained for some days ; then, moving 
on to Colonel Rugeley's, he just escaped Tarleton when 
that officer rushed to Buford's slaughter. 

The capitulation of Charlestown, involving, as it did, the 
capture of the lieutenant governor and of almost every 
other person connected with the civil government, rendered 
it of vital importance that Governor Rutledge and the three 
of the Council who had gone out with him should avoid 
any possible danger of falling into the enemy's hands. Un- 
happily Colonel Charles Pinckney and Daniel Huger gave 
up in despair and accepted royal protection. John L. 
Gervais, like the governor, made his escape into North 

508 



IN THE REVOLUTION 609 

Carolina. The governor, upon whose freedom now so 
much depended, made his way to Philadelphia, where he 
exerted himself to the utmost to procure men and supplies 
for the recovery of his State. He appears to have been so 
engaged there, with, however, but little success, during the 
months of June, July, and August, 1780. In September he 
returned to the South, stopping at Hillsboro in North 
Carolina, where with the governor of that State he was con- 
certing measures for the prosecution of the war, and giving 
what aid he could to General Gates, who was then endeavor- 
ing to reorganize his shattered army. Here it was, as has 
been seen, that he issued his first commission of brigadier- 
general to Colonel Williams, which he recalled at the 
instance of the delegation from Sumter's men, who went to 
him for the purpose of protesting against the appointment 
of that officer, and of urging the promotion of Sumter. 
From Hillsboro he issued the commissions of brigadier- 
general to Sumter and Marion, putting Sumter in com- 
mand of all the militia of the State, and placing himself in 
communication with these officers, supporting and sanction- 
ing their efforts, which had before this been made entirely 
upon their own individual responsibility without any 
governmental authorization. He had joined Greene when 
that general reached Hillsboro and assumed the command 
of the Southern Department, with him had moved first to 
Charlotte and thence to Cheraw, when Greene established 
his headquarters near that place. From Cheraw, in 
January, 1781, Governor Rutledge found means of opening 
communication with the friends of the American cause in 
Charlestown. 

Upon the advance of Lord Cornwallis in January, 1781, 
into North Carolina, the governor was again compelled 
to fall back with the army and for the time again to 
abandon the State. He continued, however, with General 



510 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

Greene until the 8th of March, when he wrote from the 
camp on Haw River, sending his letter by General Pickens 
to Sumter, whom he had put in command of all the militia 
forces, that the present situation of affairs rendering it 
impracticable for him to return immediately into South 
Carolina, and impossible to reestablish civil government 
there for some time, and there being no use of his remaining 
with the army there, he had determined to proceed again to 
Philadelphia to attempt to procure supplies of clothing for 
the militia, and to obtain, if possible, such effectual aid as 
to restore both Charlestown and the country to their 
possession. His utmost endeavors for these purposes should 
be exerted, and he flattered himself that he might succeed 
by personal applications. By General Pickens and Major 
Bowie, returning to the State, the governor sent three 
hundred militia commissions, which he authorized General 
Sumter to issue, empowering him to remove ofiicers and 
to appoint others in the place of the removed. In North 
Carolina he procured twenty-five hundred yards of woollens, 
which he sent on to Sumter for the use of the militia.^ 
Thence proceeding by the way of Richmond, Governor 
Rutledge appears to have reached Philadelphia in May. 
There he was engaged in pressing upon Congress the 
necessities of the South till the latter end of the month, 
when he went to Washington's headquarters to lay before 
the Commander-in-chief the condition of affairs in South 
Carolina. To Washington he represented the unhappy 
situation of the suffering soldiery, the prisoners of war at 
Charlestown, and urged that measures should be taken for 
their relief. It was owing to his importunities probably 
that General Wayne with his detachment marched from 
Yorktown, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of May ; but they 
were detained in Virginia and did not reach South Carolina 
1 Sumter MSS. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 511 

until the war was practically over, signalizing themselves 
there only by their second mutiny. Governor Rutledge, on 
his return, brought with him a small supply of medicines and 
some other articles which he had procured in Philadelphia ; 
but beyond this his personal applications — of the result of 
which he was so hopeful — had accomplished nothing.^ 

Learning of Lord Rawdon's retreat from Camden, his 
Excellency returned to South Carolina and on the 1st of 
August arrived at General Greene's headquarters on the 
High Hills of Santee. After conferring with the general 
he retired to Camden, and there set himself at work reor- 
ganizing the militia and the State troops which Sumter 
had partly embodied, and instituting civil government over 
the territory recovered from the enemy .2 

Since the fall of Charlestown there had been really no 
militia in the State, though the partisan bands were usu- 
ally so called ; for a militia, as we have had occasion to 
observe before, implies the existence of a government 
under which the citizens are enrolled and required to do 
duty. But since his Excellency's departure from the State 
there had been no government except that of the British 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, Vol. II, 247. 

2 By the terms of the act conferring upon Governor Rutledge dictatorial 
powers they were to be exercised in concurrence with such of his Council 
as he could conveniently consult. The members of the Council, it may be 
remembered, were Colonel Charles Pinckney, Daniel Huger, John Lewis 
Gervais, Thomas Ferguson, David Ramsay, Richard Hutson, Roger Smith, 
and Benjamin Cattell. Major James, in his Memoirs, states that at this 
time Governor Rutledge had but two of his Council with him, Daniel 
Huger and John Lewis Gervais {Life of Marion, 143, note). He must 
certainly have been mistaken, however, in regard to Daniel Huger, for he 
had taken protection and had avowed himself a subject of his Majesty. 
All the other members of the council, with the exception of Smith and 
Cattell, had been exiles, and were then in Philadelphia, where they had 
been sent on their release from St. Augustine. Governor Rutledge writes 
to Marion, October 24, 1781, "All the gentlemen of our council arrived 
yesterday." {Gthhes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 196.) 



612 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

authorities under the protection of the Royal army. Dur- 
ing the four months of June, July, August, and Septem- 
ber, 1780, in which so much had been done by the partisan 
bands under Sumter, Marion, Clarke, and Shelby, there had 
not been even a militia commission in the hands of these 
leaders. Davie, who was so brilliantly acting with them, 
had, it .was true, a commission as major from North Caro- 
lina, and Marion, as an officer in the Continental line, had 
also one in that service ; but these commissions as such were 
ignored, and their authority in those operations was derived 
only from their followers. These bands were thus purely 
volunteers fighting from patriotism only, without pay or 
reward. From North Carolina Governor Rutledge, as we 
have said, had commissioned first Sumter, and then Marion, 
and later Pickens, as brigadier-generals of militia, and 
authorized them to organize their followers and commis- 
sion their officers as militia. The individual spirit of such 
men was generally of the highest character, as their ser- 
vices were of the most disinterested patriotism. But the 
want of discipline and the shifting and fluctuating char- 
acter of such bodies rendered them unreliable for the per- 
sistent and continued operations of a systematic campaign. 
Greene's pedantry could allow him to see nothing beyond 
the manifest evils of the system. He had no appreciation 
for what it had in fact accomplished, notwithstanding its 
admitted defects. To meet his reiterated complaints upon 
the subject, Sumter, with his approval, had inaugurated 
the plan of raising a body of State troops — neither militia 
nor Continental — to serve for a certain definite period for 
pay to be derived from the spoils taken from the enemy. 

But, as might have been expected, the system did not 
work well ; and now that the greater portion of the State 
had been recovered from the enemy, his Excellency the 
governor devoted himself to the task of organizing a 



IN THE REVOLUTION 613 

more regular militia and of improving the organization of 
State troops. 

The nucleus of each of the militia regiments was the 
regimental district of 1779, and so they were called regi- 
ments, and their officers lieutenant-colonels. They seldom, 
however, numbered more in action than from one hundred to 
two hundred men each, and were changing and fluctuating 
bodies, the men of the district or neighborhood coming and 
going as the occasion demanded and their necessities allowed 
or their caprice suggested, and generally expecting to be 
relieved at the end of two months, the limit of service 
required by the old militia law. The commandant when 
commissioned was a lieutenant-colonel. There were no 
colonels in the Continental line after the expiration of the 
first organizations, for this reason. In the British army, 
then as now, the colonel of a regiment was an honorary 
officer only — the lieutenant-colonel being the actual com- 
mandant. Thus, as the Prince of Wales, now King Ed- 
ward VII., was the honorary colonel of the Life Guards, Sir 
William Howe, the commander-in-chief in America (1776- 
1778), was the colonel of the Twenty-third Regiment, of 
which Nisbet Balfour, the commandant of Charlestown, 
was lieutenant-colonel, and Earl Cornwallis was the colo- 
nel of the Thirty-third, of which James Webster, killed 
at Guilford, was lieutenant-colonel. As, therefore, the 
commanding officer of a British regiment in the field was 
only a lieutenant-colonel, it became important, in order 
to facilitate and equalize the exchange of prisoners taken, 
that the American regimental officer should have only the 
same rank. The rule adopted in the Continental line was 
followed in the State service.^ 

1 From letters of Governor Rutledge to Generals Sumter and Marion, 
dated 17th of September, 1781, an account of clothing issued to Sumter's 
brigade from 20th of April to 8th of October, 1781 (Sumter MSS.), and 

VOL. IV. — 2 L 



614 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAROLINA 

By the " act for the more effectual defence of the State " 
of 1779, the whole militia had been divided into three 
classes, one of which was required to hold themselves in 
readiness to march to such place as they should be ordered, 
to do duty for two months from the time of their joining 
headquarters or arriving at the place of their destination, 
at the expiration of which time they should punctually be 
relieved by another class, which should do duty for two 
months, and at the expiration of their time they should 
also be relieved by the third class, who should serve for 
the like term, and they again should be relieved by the 
first, and thus every class should do equal duty in rotation.^ 

Governor Rutledge now proceeded to reorganize the 
militia under this law. On the 17th of September he 
issued instructions to the brigadier-generals, to have the 
regiments fully and properly officered, mustered, and classed 
or drafted, as soon as possible, and to march one-third of 
them with the utmost expedition to headquarters, or such 
other place as General Greene should direct, to do duty 
under his orders for two months from the time of their 
arrival. He enclosed extracts from the several laws as 
were necessary to be made known to the militia, a copy 
of which he directed to be furnished to each colonel, and 

from other sources the following table of the regiments of State troops 
and militia has been compiled : — 

Suniter''s Brigade, State Troops: (1) Henry Hampton's, (2) "Wade 
Hampton's, (3) Mydelton's. Militia: (1) Bratton's, (2) Lacey's, 
(8) Winn's, (4) Taylor's, (5) Postell's, afterwards Kimball's, (6) Hill's. 

Marianas Brigade, State Troops: (1) Peter Horry's, (2) Maham's. 
Militia: (1) Hugh Horry's, (2) Baxter's, (3) McDonald's, (4) Richard- 
son's, (5) Irwin's, (6) Benton's, formerly Kolb's, (7) Vanderhorst's, for- 
merly Maybank's. 

Pickens's Brigade, Militia: (1) Harden's, formerly of Marion's, 
(2) Roebuck's, (3)Brandon's, (4) Thomas's, (5) Anderson's, (6) Hayes's, 
(7) Wilkinson's, (8) Samuel Hammond's, (9) Le Roy Hammond's. 

1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. IV, 503. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 615 

ordered to be read at the head of his regiment ; a copy to 
be taken by each of his field officers and captains. He 
directed the brigadiers to appoint the most proper men in 
their brigades for officers, and to have the laws carried 
strictly and steadily into execution. The men drafted 
were directed to come on foot, as they were to serve as 
infantry, and their horses could not be kept in camp, nor 
could any drafted men be spared to carry them back. 

But how were the provisions of the act of 1779 to 
be enforced? That statute provided this curious and 
impracticable scheme, viz., that every person who should 
refuse or neglect to turn out properly armed and accoutred 
when drafted should forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding 
X500, and treble his last tax, to be sued for and recovered 
in a summary way and manner by a court composed of 
three commissioned officers and four privates of the com- 
pany to which the offender belonged, or if it should be 
impracticable to draw the privates from the company, 
they should be chosen from the regiment. The privates 
forming part of these courts were not to be selected by 
officers, but drawn nearly in the manner as jurors then 
were ; the names of each private in the company or regi- 
ment to which the offender belonged was to be written 
on a piece of paper and put into a hat, and publicly and 
fairly drawn out by a commissioned officer. On the 
non-payment of the fine imposed by such a court the 
defaulter was obliged to serve as a common soldier in 
one of the Continental regiments raised in the State, for 
not less than four nor more than twelve months.^ 

With the singular composition of these courts his Ex- 
cellency does not appear to have interfered, though it is 
scarcely to be supposed that, thus constituted, they would 
have been very effective in enforcing the drafts. He 
^Statutes of So. Ca., vol. IV, 465. 



616 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

did, however, in the exercise of his plenary powers, dic- 
tate an amendment to the act in regard to the currency 
in which the penalties, if imposed, should be paid. Con- 
currently with his instruction to the brigadiers he is- 
sued a proclamation suspending the resolves and acts 
of the Legislature which made the paper currency a tender 
in law, in payment of debts, and enclosing a copy to them, 
he wrote : — 

" My proclamation of this date " (September 17, 1781) " suspends 
until ten days after the next meeting and sitting of the General 
Assembly, the acts which make Continental and State money a tender 
in law; all fines must therefore be paid in specie, it is necessary to 
ascertain to what amount in specie the court may fine. In 1776 the 
militia were entitled to ten shillings current money a day. There 
was at that time no difference in the value of specie and paper 
money. In March, 1778, the pay of the militia continued the same, 
it is therefore to be presumed that no difference had taken place 
between paper money and specie, at least there is no legislative 
acknowledgment of any depreciation. But in February, 1779, the 
pay of militia was raised from 10s. to .32s. Qd. per day, the paper 
money having and being admitted by the Legislature to be depreciated 
in that proportion. From these observations we may fix the following 
rule as the most just and equitable for determining how far the 
court may fine in specie. For fines imposed by the act of 1778 to 
the amounts of the sums mentioned in the law. Thus £100 in 
specie (according to the current rate of gold or silver) for £100 currency. 
But for fines under the act of 1779 they must not exceed in specie 
the sums therein mentioned as £150 specie (according to the old 
currency rate of rate of gold and silver) £500 currency." 

It will be recollected that, in order to complete the 
quota of troops to be raised by the State for the Conti- 
nental line, the degrading condition was imposed on that 
service that vagrants and other offenders were by sentence 
of court impressed in the regiment of that line ; his Ex- 
cellency the governor after thus scaling the fines to be 
imposed for failure to perform militia duty, ordered also 



EST THE REVOLUTION 517 

that all offenders who might be condemned to the Conti- 
nental service should be sent under guard to head- 
quarters.^ To the idle, lewd, and vagrant hitherto forced 
into the Continental service, were now added cowards 
and deserters from the militia. 

A few days later he wrote to Marion, forbidding the 
practice of allowing substitutes for militia duty. " The 
law," he wrote, " does not allow any man the privilege 
of sending substitutes, nor does it exempt him from militia 
duty by paying such a sum as an officer may think proper 
to receive either in lieu of personal service, to find a 
Continental or State soldier, or for any other purpose." ^ 
In subsequent letters he directed, however, that no such 
arrangements as had actually been made should be dis- 
turbed, but none allowed in the future. His intention 
was, he declared, that no man outside of Charlestown 
should be excused from militia duty under a pretence 
that he was on parole or a British subject, unless he had 
been fairly taken in arms and paroled as an officer. To 
any others claiming exemption on this account he 
directed that they should take their choice, either of 
doing duty or going into the enemy's lines. If any such 
refused both alternatives, he was to be court-martialed 
and fined. 

The governor also writes : " I find there are many 
gentlemen riding about the country under the description 
of volunteers who render no kind of service to it. This 
practice being very injurious should be immediately 
suppressed; and no man is to be excused from doing 
militia duty in the district of the regiment to which he 
belongs unless he is actually enrolled and obliged for 
some certain time to serve in some regular corps of cavalry, 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 1G4-165 ; Sumter MSS. 

2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 174. 



618 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

not merely as a volunteer, but to do the same duty and 
be subject to the articles as the rest of the corps are 
obliged to do or are subject to."^ 

But while the governor was engaged thus endeavoring 
to restore order and to enforce the militia law of the State, 
the absolute necessity of finding means to support the 
army, Continentals as well as militia, was forced upon him. 
Congress neither would nor could do anything further 
than to permit the experiment of a bank to be tried. 
Mr. Robert Morris, on undertaking the management of the 
American finances, had laid before Congress the plan of 
a national bank, the capital of which was to consist of 
$400,000, to be made up by individual subscription. It 
was to be incorporated by government, and subject to the 
inspection of the superintendent of the finances, who was 
at all times to have access to the books. Their notes were 
to be receivable as specie from the respective States into 
the treasury of the United States. The plan was adopted 
by Congress,^ and was for a time at least a partial success. 
Colonel Laurens's mission to France had resulted in hasten- 
ing, if not actually securing, a gift from Louis XVI. of 
6,000,000 livres, and loans amounting to 14,000,000 more.^ 
From these sources specie made its appearance in circula- 
tion at Philadelphia ; members of Congress and all the 
retinue of attendants at the seat of government were paid 
in hard money ; a general exhilaration was produced ; the 
financier was the channel through which all flowed ; and 
all who drank at the fount bestowed on it a benediction. 
But the stream sank in the sands, as it was said, long 
before it reached the State of South Carolina, and never 
reached it until after the fall of Lord Cornwallis ; nor for 

iGibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 179-180; Sumter MSS. 
" Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 458. 
•Bancroft's Hist, of the U. S., vol. V, 469. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 519 

long after, except indirectly through the supplies acquired 
by conquest. On the contrary, the only fund in the mili- 
tary chest was ordered to be withdrawn from it. There was 
a balance on hand of certain bills drawn upon Dr. Franklin, 
about $300,000 in amount, and which by the resolves of 
Congress were among the funds placed at the disposal of 
the financier. Marshall, indeed, relates that, in order to 
compel the Southern army to the utmost exertion to sup- 
port itself without drawing supplies from the general gov- 
ernment, Mr. Morris employed an agent to attend the army 
as a volunteer, whose powers were unknown to General 
Greene. This agent was instructed to watch the situation, 
and only to furnish assistance when it appeared impossible 
for the general to extricate himself from his embarrass- 
ments ; and then, upon his pledging the faith of the gov- 
ernment for repayment, to furnish him with a draft on the 
financier, for such a sum as would relieve the urgency of 
the moment.^ The sale of drafts on the government thus 
niggardly doled out, and of shares on Mr. Morris's bank, 
were the only means allowed for the support of the army 
in South Carolina. 2 

Governor Rutledge had attempted during his journey 
from Philadelphia to interest the people in the country in 
the support of Mr. Morris's bank, and by the sale of shares 
to raise some money for the support of the army; but his 
route was through a tract of country where the inhabitants 
were little acquainted with commerce, and therefore not 
likely to become adventurers in a measure of that sort. 
But whether it was owing to objections to this particular 
scheme or to all projects of the kind, it is certain that not 
a single subscriber could be found nor a shilling of money 
raised. Upon his arrival at Greene's headquarters he 

1 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 557-558. 
* Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 202. 



520 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

found the imperative necessity of adopting some other 
scheme of raising money ; and it was at this time that he 
resolved to impress for State service a quantity of indigo, 
which article at that time the middle country chiefly culti- 
vated for market. Occupying but small space when raised, 
it had been hid away, and conveyed to market occasionally 
as opportunities offered. As these were neither frequent 
nor safe, there was a good deal of the article then in the 
country. Governor Rutledge caused the indigo impressed 
by him to be conveyed in wagons to Piiiladelphia, where it 
was sold. This was the first substantial supply, not of 
cash, but the means of raising its equivalent, the army had 
had since General Greene had been in command. By 
borrowing a portion of it for the use of his officers, he 
was enabled to restore them to comparative decency and 
comfort.^ 

Colonel Lee was never content with a sliare only of 
spoils or supplies. It will be remembered the offence he 
had given to Marion on the subject of captured horses, 
and to Sumter at the capture of Granby, by appropriating 
to his Legion the best clothing found in the fort. This 
had been his course throughout his service in South Caro- 
lina, nor could he now refrain from helping himself from 
this source of revenue which Governor Rutledge's action 
had developed. Without waiting on the slow process of 
an equitable division of supplies from this quarter. Colonel 
Lee directed his legionary quartermaster to secure a 
[iortion of the indigo for the exclusive benefit of his corps, 
lie, however, took the precaution of apprising General 
Greene of the measure, with a hope, doubtless, of securing 
in advance his sanction or of averting his interdict. But 
the general, perceiving at once the danger at this time of 
such action, and receiving an intimation from Governor 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 205. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 521 

Rutledge of his disapproval of it, thereupon at once wrote 
to Colonel Lee : — 

" Your order to Mr. Lewis to procure a quantity of indigo for the 
purpose of procuring clothing for your Legion I have found necessary 
to countermand, having got a hint that it would be thought derogatory 
to the government for individuals to take a measure of that sort with- 
out the order of the Governor, who, I believe, is perfectly disposed to 
give every aid and support to the army in his power." ^ 

A subject which gave Governor Rutledge great concern 
at this time was that in regard to the wisest and best course 
to be pursued in regard to the Tories. He writes to Gen- 
eral Marion : " I have been very much puzzled about a 
proclamation to offer pardon to the Tories. I have how- 
ever determined, upon the whole, to issue one with certain 
exceptions. It is enclosed ; be pleased to have it properly 
circulated." ^ As this proclamation, which bore date 27th 
of September, 1781, formed the basis of the action of the 
General Assembly which met soon after, in regard to the 
treatment of the Royalists,^ it is well here to give an 
analysis of it. 

The proclamation recited the advantages gained by the 
forces of the United States, which had compelled the troops 
of his Britannic Majesty to surrender or evacuate the strong 
posts which they held in the Up-Country, and to retreat 
to the vicinity of Charlestown ; the inability of the enemy 
to give the protection and support they had promised to 
their adherents who had taken up arms with them, com- 
pelling manj'- to conceal themselves in secret places to 

1 Campaigns in the Carolinas (H. Lee), 452, and Appendix, XV. 

2 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 175. 

3 "I must first observe that G r R 's proclamation of the 27th 

of September, 1781, was the fountain from whence sprung some of those 
bitter laws, and the forfeitures and disabilities above mentioned." — An 
address, To the Freemen of the State of South Carolina^ "Cassius," Janu- 
ary 14, 1783, Pamphlets, Charleston Library, 6th series, vol. II. 



522 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

avoid the effects of just resentment ; Balfour's order, by 
which the wives and families of the friends of America 
were sent beyond the sea, and the governor's retaliatory 
order sending the wives and families of those who had 
adhered to the British within their lines ; the representa- 
tions to him that many who had been induced by vain 
expectations and delusive hopes were now anxious to 
return to their allegiance and to use their utmost exertions 
to support American independence, — on duly weighing and 
considering which his Excellency had thought fit, by and 
with the advice of his Privy Council, to issue this procla- 
mation, offering to all persons who had borne arms with 
the enemy, who had till then adhered to them, or who were 
concealing themselves, a full and free pardon and oblivion 
upon the condition that such persons should, within thirty 
days from the date of the proclamation, surrender them- 
selves to a brigadier of the militia of the State and en- 
gage to perform constant duty as privates for six months 
next ensuing the time of such surrender ; and that they 
actually perform such duty. To the wives and children 
of such persons he offered, upon their husbands or 
parents complying with this condition, permission to re- 
turn to their homes and to hold and enjoy their property 
in the State without molestation or interruption. He pro- 
vided, however, that if such persons should desert from 
the militia service within the time limited, their families 
should be immediately sent into the enemy's lines, and 
neither they nor their husbands or parents suffered to re- 
turn to or reside in the State. This liberal offer was, how- 
ever, qualified by the following exceptions, in which cases 
the persons were excluded from its benefit. 

1. All persons who, having gone over to or joined the 
enemy, had failed to avail themselves of the provisions of 
the two several proclamations of his Excellency the gov- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 623 

ernor, to surrender themselves to a magistrate within forty 
days after the respective date of those proclamations 
issued in pursuance of an ordinance of February 20, 
1779, entitled " An ordinance to prevent persons with- 
drawing from the defence of the State to join the 
enemies thereof." ^ 

2. All persons who had been sent off or obliged to quit 
the State for refusing to take the oath required of them by 
law, who have returned to the country .^ 

3. All those who subscribed a congratulatory address 
bearing date on or about the 5th day of June, 1780, to 
General Sir Henry Clinton and Vice-Admiral Arbuthnot, 
or another address bearing date on or about the 19th 
day of September, 1780, to Lieutenant-General Earl Corn- 
wallis. 

4. All such as at the time held any commission, civil or 
military, under the British government, and were then 
with the enemy. 

5. All those whose conduct had been so infamous as 
that they could not (consistently with justice or policy) 
be admitted to partake of the privileges of America ; not- 
withstanding which last-mentioned exception, such persons 
as should be deemed inadmissible to the rights and privi- 
leges of citizens should not be detained as prisoners, but 
should have full and free liberty and a pass or permit to 
return. 

The proclamation of his Excellency concluded with this 
appeal : — 

" At a juncture when the force of the enemy in this State, though 
lately considerable, is nearly reduced by the many defeats which 
they have suffered, and particularly iu the late important action at 
Eutaw, when they are dispossessed of every post except Charles Town 
garrison ; When this formidable fleet of his most Christian Majesty 

1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. IV, 479. 2 pyi^,^ vol. I, 147 ; vol. IV, 450. 



524 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

in Chesapeake Bay and the combined armies of the King of France 
and of the United States under the command of his Excellency Gen. 
Washington in Virginia afford a well grounded hope that by the joint 
effort of these armies this campaign will be happily terminated and 
the British power in every part of the Confederated States soon totally 
annihilated : It is conceived that the true and real motive of the offer 
here made will be acknowledged ; it must be allowed to proceed not 
from timidity (to which they affect to attribute every act of clem- 
ency and mercy on our part) but from a wish to impress with a sense 
of their error and reclaim misguided subjects, and give them once 
more an opportunity of becoming valuable members of the community 
instead of banishing them, or forever cutting them off from it ; for 
even the most disaffected cannot suppose that the brave and deter- 
mined freemen of the State have any dread of their arms. With the 
persons to whom pardon is thus offered the choice still remains either 
to return to their allegiance and with their families to be restored to 
the favor of their country and to their possessions or to abandon their 
properties in this State forever and go with their wives and children 
whither and for what purpose or whom to depend or how to submit 
they know not, most probably to experience in some strange and dis- 
tant land all the miseries and horrors of beggary sickness and despair. 
This alternative is now for the last time submitted to their judgment. 
It will never be renewed 1 " 

The terms of this proclamation were not only regarded 
as harsh and ungenerous by those to whom they were 
offered, but were severely criticised by the stanchest of 
Whigs. In the address, To the Freemen of the State of 
South Carolina, over the signature of " Cassius," pub- 
lished the 14th of January, 1783, to which we have referred, 
the writer says : — 

" The proclamation of September 27 as observed before went on the 
Governor's idea that the great body of the people who had taken pro- 
tection had thereby forfeited their lives liberty and property. He 
takes upon him to offer pardon to every one who should join our 
standard in 30 days and serve 6 months in the militia as common 
soldiers excepting from the benefit those who were banished the State 
in tlie beginning of the troubles ; the congratulators, and such as held 
commissions civil or military on the 27 September or were then with. 



IN THE KEVOLUTIOK 625 

the enemy. I shall say nothing of the good or bad policy of excluding 
such a number of citizens as this exception comprehended, admitting 
he had the power he pretended. However on the 17th of November 
he issued a second proclamation extending the benefits held out by the 
former under like terms. 

"As the capture of Cornwallis and his army was known to the 
Governor when this proclamation came out ; as the British troops 
had absolutely lost their courage with the loss at Eutaw and the 
Pennsylvania Line was on the march from York Town to our assist- 
ance ; when this and the state the country was in at that juncture is 
considered I leave the reader to judge whether the proclamation was 
not calculated rather for creating mischief than for raising a force. 
For it laid all who neglected or refused not only under a stigma and 
reproach, but under such disabilities as degraded them below the rank 
of freemen. 

" Obliging the whole country that had taken protection to turn out 
and serve six months in the militia was the greatest oppression imagi- 
nable ; and the contriver of it well knew those who now drive down 
the measure, that it was commanding what was absolutely impossible. 
Men are generally so embarrassed with inconveniences of one sort or 
another that there is no society on earth the aggregate body whereof 
could all quit their families or homes for six months. In our case not 
to mention how much agriculture would suffer by such emigration 
the heads of those families who resided within the enemy's range 
were peculiarly circumstanced. They were no doubt called on by the 
feelings of fathers, husbands, or protectors to stay and afford the 
feeble protection they could to their families or avert the distress 
or ruin that would ensue if they joined our army which at that time 
had not the power of protecting them. 

"Ordering them out therefore without regard to local situation, 
sickness or other distress was an extravagant act of power. Whether 
they resided within or out of the enemy's garrison or guards, whether 
a man's wdfe or little ones or the property the British had left him 
iinplundered were in or out of the enemy's reach ; all this w^as nothing ; 
they must abandon the whole to the rage of an unprincipled, revenge- 
ful enemy, and sally forth like Don Quixote setting British guards and 
parties at defiance in quest of adveutm-es on the report of a proclama- 
tion; and what perhaps was more mortifying they must humble 
themselves and supplicate for money as criminals at the feet of a man 
who a little before was a fellow citizen no more than on a footing with 
themselves. 



626 HISTOHY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

" I conjure any sensible honest man to tell me if this was acting 
the part of a magistrate framing regulations for the ease and conven- 
ience of a people over whose happiness he was appointed to preside," 
etc. 1 

In many instances, the case was indeed a hard one. 
There were those who upon the fall of Charlestown and the 
abandonment of the State by Congress and its forces had 
no choice but to remain subject to the conqueror's power. 
Domestic affairs forbade their leaving their homes and 
families. " The State," Cassius reminded his Excellency, 
" soon after the reduction of Charlestown may be strictly 
said to have been conquered. Not only the capital, but 
every post throughout the country was in the hands of the 
enemy. The governor, who represented the sovereignty of 
the State, had provided for his safety by flight, and all the 
Continental troops in South Carolina were either killed, 
taken, or routed." But there were those who could not, 
like his Excellency, avoid the power of the enemy by 
flight, and was he now, upon his return after more than a 
year's absence, from behind an army which might yet 
vanish, as twice already had happened, and with it himself, 
to require them to risk the vengeance, upon themselves 
and their families, of the enemy in whose power they 
actually were ? In this very proclamation his Excellency 
was directing that the families of all who would not join 
him and who were within his own lines should be com- 
pelled to go into the enemy's. If they came out, would not 
the enemy follow his example and send their families out of 
their lines ; and if so, how were they to be supported while 
they were serving for six months in the militia? True, 
by another order the governor had called out all the militia 
of the State to serve in three terms of duty of two months 
each. But besides the inequality of the service required in 
^Pamphlets, Charleston Library, 5th Series, vol. IL 



IN THE REVOLUTION 527 

the two cases, the militiaman could avoid serving by the 
payment of his fine, which his Excellency had scaled down 
to the lowest point. The option to him, therefore, was not 
an arduous one ; but in the case of the man within the 
enemy's lines the alternative was the abandonment of his 
family under the most distressing circumstances, or the 
forfeiture of his citizenship. On the other hand, the con- 
sideration that some great difference should be made 
between those who had stood faithfully by the State in the 
hour of adversity, and those who, from whatever motive 
or under whatever influences, honorable or otherwise, had 
sat quietly down under the protection of the enemy's 
power during its continuance, could not be ignored. The 
question was a difficult one, and it was rendered still more 
so by the notorious fact that many — very many — had 
wavered, from time to time, from side to side. 

General Sumter appears to have been particularly 
charged with the duty of receiving the submissions of the 
Loyalists under this proclamation and of incorporating them 
with his command. 1 Several hundreds came out of the 
British lines under the terms of the proclamation and 
joined the American militia. Many made their excuses 
for remaining with the British on account of the situation 
of their families ; others, who had taken British militia 
commissions, explained their conduct that they had done 
so at the request of their neighbors to save them from 
having officers put over them who would have abused and 
ill-treated them. General Moultrie asserts that it was 
within his knowledge that several gentlemen took British 
militia commissions to protect their friends and neighbors 
from insult.2 

His Excellency the governor next turned his attention 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 302; Sumter MSS. 

2 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 303-304. 



628 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to the reestablishment of civil government; and his first 
step in this direction was tlie appointment of ordinaries 
throughout the State to administer estates, a measure of 
pressing necessity, from the number of citizens who had 
fallen in the last two years.^ 

By the constitution adopted 19th of March, 1778, elec- 
tions for members of the Senate were to have been held 
on the last Monday in November of that year and the 
day following, and on the same days of every second year 
thereafter, and for Representatives in the House on those 
days in that year, and on the same days in every second 
year thereafter.^ Three years had now passed without an 
election, and Governer Rutledge determined now to pro- 
vide for one, and as he was authorized by the constitution, 
should the casualties of war or contagious disorders render 
it unsafe for the General Assembly to meet at the seat of 
government, to appoint a more secure and convenient place 
of meeting. For the reason already mentioned he decided 
to call this Assembly at Jacksonborough. 

As a matter of detail, he was at a loss for the want of 
forms for writs of election, as well as of other forms of pro- 
cedure and to procure these he despatched a letter by a 
trusted negro named Antigua, belonging to the estate of 
Mr. John Harleston, deceased, who rendered him the most 
important services of this character, to one of the friends of 
the cause in Charlestown, to obtain them. The negro was 
captured with the letter of the governor and another to 
a different person, and the letters were published in full 
conspicuously, for several issues in The Royal Grazette? 
Antigua, however, soon escaped, for by the time the British 
were publishing the letter, taken from him some weeks 

1 Sumter MSS. 

2 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. I, 139-140. 

3 The Boyal Gazette, October 31, 1781. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 529 

before, we find the governor sending by liim to Mr. Ravenel 
a slave wliicli liad been improperly taken from him.^ The 
form of writs having been obtained, his Excellency on the 
23d of November addressed letters to the brigadier-gener- 
als, enclosing writs of election, which they were instructed 
to have properly filled up and issued. The character of 
these instructions and the governor's conduct in regard 
thereto will be considered in the next chapter. In this it 
will only be observed that one of the packets of writs was 
sent to General Barnwell. 

It was the misfortune of the State at this time to lose 
the services of both General Sumter and Colonel Harden. 
The orders in regard to the election were issued to General 
Sumter, and his last service was in extending them ; but 
Colonel Harden had already been superseded and had 
resigned. Governor Rutledge, considering that the part 
of Marion's command which extended from Charlestown 
to the Savannah too remote from Marion's scenes of oper- 
ation, had determined to constitute a new brigade in that 
quarter. Hitherto Marion had confided that region to 
Colonel Harden, and never had service been more ably 
performed. But Governor Rutledge thought Major John 
Barnwell, though lower in grade as a militia officer, a more 
proper person for tlie position of brigadier than Harden, 
and appointed him to command. Major Barnwell had 
been one of the officers of the three first regiments raised 
by the Provincial Congress in 1775. He had served for a 
while with his regiment in the Continental line, but had 
resigned, and subsequently had become major in Colonel 
Garden's militia regiment, and as such had been captured 
at the fall of Charlestown and was one of those confined 
on the prison ships in the harbor; he had thus seen but 
little active service in the field, while Colonel Harden had 
1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), p. 197. 

VOL. IV. — 2m 



530 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

greatly distinguished himself as a partisan leader, and had 
been practically in command of the territory now made 
into a new brigade district since the May previous. On 
the other hand, it may have been urged with some force 
that Major Barnwell ranked Harden at the time of the 
fall of Charlestown, Harden being then but a captain, and 
that he should not be made to lose his relative rank be- 
cause of his having been included in the surrender of the 
city — that while Harden had been enjoying the opportu- 
nity of distinguishing himself, he had for the sake of the 
State been enduring the horrors of the prison ship. Colonel 
Harden immediately resigned his commission on being 
superseded, and the public lost his services ; not only so, 
but the appointment gave such offence to the officers and 
men who had served under him that they refused to serve 
under General Barnwell, so that he could do nothing and 
finally resigned. 

General Sumter's resignation could have excited no 
surprise. It is hardly to be doubted that it was acceptable 
to General Greene, though his letters to Sumter himself are 
of a very different tenor. Indeed, the contemporary corre- 
spondence discloses a great want of candor, at least upon 
Greene's part. The immediate cause of Sumter's determi- 
nation was the action of Governor Rutledge in regard to 
the State troops and militia which formed his command, 
but which action was at General Greene's own sugges- 
tion. 

The letters of his Excellency of the 17th of September 
upon the reorganization of the militia, addressed to Gen- 
erals Sumter and Marion, were almost identical in terms. 
They each contained a clause directing that the drafted 
men should come on foot, as they were to do duty as 
infantry, and their horses could not be kept in camp nor 
could any men be spared to carry them home. But a 



IN THE REVOLUTION 531 

difference was made in carrying out this order. At General 
Greene's suggestion it was relaxed in favor of Marion's 
men. Then Sumter was ordered to detach Wade Hamp- 
ton's regiment for service in Georgia, and his command 
was further diminished by the reductions of his regiments 
of State troops. Colonel Lee, whether by flattery or other- 
wise, had doubtless obtained and exercised a great ascend- 
ency upon the mind of the General-in-chief ; or, as expressed 
by the author of the Campaigns in the Carolinas, " the mind 
of that hero was often indebted to him for original sugges- 
tions or acceptable advice." Unfortunately General Sum- 
ter had somehow, but the reason for which nowhere 
appears, incurred the enmity of Lee soon after General 
Greene's return to South Carolina, and from that time 
Lee's influence was constantly exerted to Sumter's preju- 
dice.^ There can be no doubt, too, that General Greene 
encouraged, if he did not invite, Colonel Lee's criticisms. 
Thus he writes to Lee, immediately after the defeat at 
Hobkirk's Hill : " General Sumter has got but few men. 
He has taken the field and is pushing after little parties 
of Tories towards Ninety Six. Major Hyrne is gone to him 
if possible to get him to join us. But this I know he will 
avoid if he can with decency.''^ 2 And Lee consoles him 
for his defeat at Hobkirk's Hill with the remark that 
*■'' nobody was to blame but G-eneral Sumter.''' Again, on the 
9th of May, writing to Lee in cipher, evidently in reply to 
some criticisms in regard to Sumter, he says : " I perceive 
that 312 [Marion] is not satisfied and I think you are not 
mistaken respecting 311 [Sumter]. However be careful, 
be prudent, and above all attentive : this with men as well 
as with ladies goes a great way." ^ On the 29th of July 
Greene writes to Lee : " I have already recommended to 

^ Campaigns in the Carolinas (Lee), 290. 
2/&id., 294. 8/6iU,357. 



532 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

General Sumter to form all the State troops into two 
Regiments. I wish it was practicable to get the State 
troops to join the army ; hut he assured it would prove so 
fully Viiy opinion of a certain person to give such an order 
as not to prevent further exertion hut even opposition and 
it is uncertain how far disappointed amhition may carry a 
man.''^ ^ On the 20th of August Colonel Lee, writing to 
General Greene, recommending that the State troops be 
taken from Sumter and put under Henderson, uses the 
language we have before quoted : " G-eneral Sumpter is 
become almost universally odious as far as I can discover. 
I lament that a man of his turn was ever useful or being 
once deservingly great should want the wisdom necessary to 
continue so and preserve his reputation^ ^ 

Indulging in such an injudicious, if not absolutely im- 
proper, correspondence with one of his officers in regard to 
another, it cannot be doubted that at length his views in 
regard to Sumter should be impressed upon his Excellency 
the governor, and that he should at last procure in this 
way the reduction of Sumter's command, and the dis- 
mounting of his men, while Marion's were to retain 
their horses. But how diiferent is the tenor of the fol- 
lowing letter from what should be expected under the 
circumstances ? On the 15th of December General Greene 
writes in this strain to Sumter : ^ — 

" I was persuaded you would meet with difficulty in reducing your 
battalions and in dismounting them, but the good of the service re- 
quires you should persevere in both. It is true the public have 
neglected them but what have they had it in their power to do? 
Poverty and want stare us in the face on every side. But never mind 
little difficulties, we have gone through greater and I persuade myself we 
shall be happy at the last, and your country if they have any justice and 

1 Campaigns in the Carulinas (Lee), 436. 

2 I hid., 450. 

s Sumter letters, Year Book., City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 132. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 633 

gratitude will not fail to bless and reward you for your exertions made in 
the darkest hours they ever felt. I shall always bear testimony to your 
firmness, and don't fail to tell the jjeople how tmich you did when others 
hid their heads." 

How could General Greene reconcile this letter to 
Sumter with that to Lee of the 29th of July, in which he 
referred to his opinion of the former as well known to his 
correspondent to be of a derogatory character ? 

Sumter appears to have written with indignation to 
Governor Rutledge upon the subject of the treatment of 
his command, for in a letter of the 25th of December, 1781, 
his Excellency replies : " I do not understand the passage 
of your letter which says ' the State brigade is too little 
the object of public attention & in various cases ludicrously 
treated.' I am not conscious of having treated any man 
or body of men ludicrously nor do I know what attention 
government could or should have paid which it has not 
to that brigade. My orders to all the Brigadiers of mili- 
tia with respect to the tours of duty are in the same terms ; 
nor do I know of any other difference in the mode of your 
brigade & any other doing duty except that my instruc- 
tions which at General Greene's particular recommenda- 
tion directed the several draughts to come on foot instead 
of coming on horseback to camp was altered by General 
Greene's recommendation as to General Marion's bri- 
gade." 1 

Sumter's State brigade was reduced to two regiments, 
one of cavalry under Colonel Wade Hampton, the other 
of infantry under Colonel Mydelton ; and that under 
Hampton was detached from his command. Colonel 
Henry Hampton, who had been with Sumter from the 
commencement of his command and had so distinguished 
himself, was put out of commission ; thereupon, on the 4th 
1 Sumter MSS. 



534 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of January, 1782, Sumter wrote to General Greene from 
Orangeburgh : " In my last I took the liberty to request 
permission to withdraw from this place upon private busi- 
ness, or rather to prepare to attend the Assembly. I hope 
to be indulged, and beg not to be honored again with your 
commands until a proper inquiry can be made whether I 
am worthy of them." i 

Soon after the Jacksonborough Assembly met, General 
Sumter resigned his commission and Colonel Henderson 
was appointed brigadier-general to succeed him. Colonel 
Lacey appears to have remained in command of his militia 
regiments.^ 

The cabal of Greene and Lee had at last succeeded in 
driving from the field the man who had been the first to 
stem the tide of conquest in South Carolina, and whose 
exertions had rendered their subsequent careers in the 
State possible. 

1 Johnson's Life, of Greene, vol. II, 303 ; Sumter letters, Tear Book 
City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 70. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 303 ; Sumter MSS. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

1781 

Gloomy, indeed, had been the prospect of the American 
cause when the year 1781 began. The resolution of Con- 
gress had called for an array of thirty-seven thousand men 
to be in camp by the 1st of January. At no time during 
the campaign of this year in the Southern Department, 
that is from Pennsylvania to Georgia inclusive, until the 
coming of the French fleet and Washington's movement to 
the South, did the regular force amount to three thousand 
effective men. In the Northern Department, from New 
Jersey to New Hampshire inclusive, as late as the month 
of April it did not reach six thousand.^ In both depart- 
ments the Continental troops were in a state of destitution. 
In the Northern destitution resulted in mutiny. On the 
night of the 1st of January the discontent of the Pennsyl- 
vania line broke out in open and almost universal revolt. 
On a signal given, the great body of non-commissioned 
officers and privates paraded under arms, and marched for 
Philadelphia to obtain redress from Congress. The muti- 
neers kept the field for two weeks, when they were met at 
Trenton by a committee of Congress and President Reed 
of Pennsylvania, with a part of his executive council, and 
a compromise was come to on the 15th, a result which, as 
we shall see, emboldened them to repeat the experiment 
when sent to South Carolina the next year. The success 

1 Marshall's Life of Washington vol. IV, 445, 446. 
535 



636 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAEOLINA 

of the Pennsylvania line inspired a part of that of Jersey, 
many of whom were foreigners, with the hope of obtaining 
similar advantages, and stimulated them to a like attempt. 
On the night of the 20th a part of the Jersey brigade rose 
in arms, making precisely the same claims which had been 
yielded to the Pennsylvanians. But this second mutiny 
was speedily crushed.^ 

In the meanwhile Virginia had been invaded by a British 
force under the traitor Arnold. Landing at Westover on 
the James on the 4th of January, Arnold had marched 
upon Richmond, at which place and in its neighborhood 
he had destroyed a large quantity of stores, public and 
private, had burnt founderies, mills, magazines, and other 
buildings. 

So it was that the battle of Cowpens was fought and 
won in South Carolina while the Northern army was in 
mutiny and Virginia overrun and pillaged by Arnold. 
Then had followed the renewed advance of Lord Cornwallis 
into North Carolina, which caused the abandonment of 
this State by Greene. For three months South Carolina 
was again left to struggle with her fate, unaided and alone, 
against a British force of more than four thousand men 
remaining within her borders after Cornwallis had left it 
with his army. Colonel Lee, with his Legion, which, after 
a leisurely march, had arrived in January, had at once 
been despatched to operate with Marion, whom he joined 
on the 23d, and with him had taken part in the attempt 
on Georgetown. He had been recalled and had followed 
the rest of Greene's army into North Carolina. But the 
war had not ceased in South Carolina, though the State 
was abandoned by the Continental army. Sumter and 
Marion had at once renewed the system of warfare upon 
the British posts by which they had accomplished so much 
1 Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. IV, 393-405. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 537 

the year before. Parties of Marion's men under the 
Postells had made their successful raids upon Wadboo 
and Monck's Corner. Marion himself had fallen upon 
and driven McLeroth through the Halfway Swamp ; had 
met and fought Watson at Wiboo, Mount Hope, and 
Black River, and finally had driven him into Georgetown. 
Then turning upon Doyle, who had, during his absence, 
destroyed his stores at Snow Island, Marion had attacked 
him at Witherspoon's Ferry, defeated, and pursued him. 
Sumter, though really unfit for service by reason of his 
wound, had again taken the field, and, gathering his men 
at their old camping ground on the Waxhaws, by a rapid and 
circuitous march to the western side of the Congaree, had 
appeared before Granby and laid siege to that post in the 
rear both of Rawdon at Camden, and of Cruger at Ninety 
Six, and after destroying a quantity of stores and supplies, 
had only raised the siege upon the approach of Lord 
Rawdon with his whole force. Then hastening to the 
British post at Thomson's plantation in Orangeburgh, he 
had fallen upon and captured a large convoy, taking 
prisoners all the party who were not killed, and had 
carried off the stores, which he unfortunately soon after 
lost by the treachery of a guide. Still more brilliant and 
successful was Harden, whom Marion had despatched 
across the country to carry the war back to the neighbor- 
hood of Charlestown itself — to its south and west. In a 
week he had four times attacked the British successfully 
at Four Holes, Barton's Post, Pocotaligo, in Colleton, and 
Fort Balfour, in Beaufort, and a few days after had fought 
Browne at Wiggins's Hill in what is now Barnwell County. 
Pickens, too, who had returned from Greene, with whom he 
had served in North Carolina, had fallen upon Dunlap and 
his party at Beattie's Mill in Ninety Six and destroyed them ; 
Hammond, one of his officers, a few days after capturing 



538 



HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 



a company at Horner's Corner in Edgefield. During 
Greene's absence, the South Carolina volunteer partisan 
bands had fought the British forces in the following 
affairs : — 





In 




American 


British 




What is Now 




Commanders 


Commanders 


1 


Wadboo (or Watboo) 


Berkeley Co. 


Jan. 24 


Postell, James 




2 


Monck's Corner 


Berkeley Co. 


Jan. 24 


Postell, John 




8 


Halfway Swamp 


Clarendon Co. 


Feb. 


Marion 


McLeroth 


4 


Fort Granby 


Lexington Co. 


Feb. 19 


Sumter 


Maxwell 


5 


Thomson's Plantation 


Orangeburgh Co. 


Feb. 23 


Sumter 


British officer 


6 


Wright's Bluff (Fort 












Watson) 


Clarendon Co. 


Feb. 27 


Sumter 


Watson 


7 


Mud Lick 


Newberry Co. 


March 2 


Roebuck 




8 


Lynch's Creek 


Kershaw Co. 


March 6 


Sumter 


Fraser 


9 


Wiboo Swamp 


Clarendon Co. 


March 


Marion 


Watson 


10 


Mount Hope 


Williamsburg Co. 


March 


Marion 


Watson 


11 


Black River 


Williamsburg Co. 


March 


Marion 


Watson 


12 


Samplt 


Georgetown Co. 


March 


Marion 


Watson 


13 


Snow Island 


Marion Co. 


March 


Marion 


Doyle 


14 


Witherspoon's Ferry 


Georgetown Co. 


March 


Marion 


Doyla 


15 


Dutchman's Creek 


Fairfield Co. 


March 




Grey 


16 


Beattie's MiU 


Abbeville Co. 


March 24 


Pickens 


Dunlap 


17 


Four Holes 


Colleton Co. 


April 7 


Harden 


A captain 


18 


Barton's Post 


Colleton Co. 


April 8 


Harden 


Barton 


19 


Pocotaligo Eoad 


Colleton Co. 


April 8 


Harden 


Fenwick 


20 


Fort Balfour 


Beaufort Co. 


April 13 


Harden 


Fenwick 


21 


Wiggins's Hill 


Barnwell Co. 


April 


Harden 


Browne 


22 


Horner's Corner 


Edgefield Co. 


April 


Hammond 


A captain 


23 


Hammond's Mill 


Edgefield Co. 


April 


Hammond 





It was indeed a glorious struggle which had thus been 
maintained by her own people in South Carolina while the 
Continental army was absent from the State. Sumter's in- 
vestment of Granby had required the movement of Lord 
Rawdon's force from Camden to dislodge him ; and when 
dislodged it had only been to enable him to attack the still 
more interior posts at Orangeburgh and Wright's Bluff, 
while Marion had kept McLeroth, Watson, and Doyle all 
busy in his lordship's rear. This was the condition of 



IN THE REVOLUTION 539 

affairs in South Carolina which Wade Hampton, sent by 
Sumter, reported to Greene the day after the battle of 
Guilford Court-house. When therefore Cornwallis, though 
victorious in that battle, had been compelled to fall back 
before Greene to Cross Creek, and thence had turned aside 
and moved towards Wilmington, Greene, upon reaching 
Ramsay's Mill on Deep River, had had to decide whether to 
follow Cornwallis, or to return to South Carolina. Wade 
Hampton was with him to tell how the Whigs in that 
State, without assistance from any source, had kept up the 
war and broken up Lord Rawdon's communications, and 
was there to support Colonel Lee in urging the march upon 
Lord Rawdon at Camden rather than upon Lord Corn- 
wallis at Wilmington. 

General Greene, as it has appeared, never giving himself 
heartily to the move, but always hankering after the rejected 
alternative, returned to South Carolina and fought, again 
unsuccessfully, the battle of Hobkirk's Hill. His defeat he, 
as usual, attributed to the failure of others. This time it 
was upon Colonel Gunby of Maryland that the blame of 
the immediate disaster was thrown ; but Sumter was held 
equally responsible because he did not have one thousand 
men in the field by the 18th of April, as Greene alleged 
he had engaged to do. In this, as it has been shown, Greene 
was mistaken, nor could anything have been more unrea- 
sonable on his part than to suppose that Sumter, without 
the vestige of a government in his support, could have 
undertaken to bring into the field one thousand volunteers 
under his immediate command, besides five hundred under 
Marion, and another party under Pickens, when the great 
States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- 
lina, and Delaware, with established governments also 
in full operation, could not altogether furnish three thous- 
and men; nor could the Northern States furnish Wash- 



540 HISTORY OP SOUTH CAEOLINA 

ington himself with six thousand. Dissatisfied with the 
first result of his move into South Carolina, General Greene 
was on the point of again abandoning the State, and taking 
off with him the remains of the Continental army when 
Lord Rawdon, notwithstanding his victory at Hobkirk's Hill, 
evacuated Camden and fell back beyond the Congaree, a 
retrogression from which the British forces never recovered. 
To whom then is the credit of the great result due ? 

It will readily be conceded that, however heroic and 
efficient the efforts of the partisan bands, the contest with 
the four thousand British troops in the State could not long 
have been maintained had' not Greene returned with his 
Continental army ; but it must as readily be granted that 
Lord Rawdon had not abandoned Camden because of his 
fear of Greene, whom he had so easily and so thoroughly 
beaten. His lordship declares that he had always reprobated 
the post as being on the wrong side of the river. But unless 
now moved by some new consideration, why had he not at 
once abandoned it as soon as left in command, upon the 
advance of Lord Cornwallis in January ? It was, doubt- 
less, owing first to the fact that Sumter and Marion had 
demonstrated the correctness of his theory as to the position 
at Camden because of the length and vulnerableness of its 
line of communication, and their full understanding of the 
situation, and determination to avail themselves of it, that 
had compelled Rawdon seriously to contemplate the neces- 
sity of its abandonment. As long as there was no or- 
ganized force in his front, he was enabled by the activity 
of such good officers as Watson, McLeroth, and Doyle to 
protect in a measure the convoy of his supplies. The pres- 
ence of Greene with his Continental force, however small, 
as a menace to his front, required that these officers should 
join him, and in doing so to expose his communications. 
It was, therefore, primarily, the action of Sumter and Marion, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 541 

and secondarily, the return of Greene, which caused Lord 
Rawdon to abandon Camden and with it a large part of the 
State. 

General Greene, in his letter to Washington of the 29th 
of March, giving his reasons for the move into South Caro- 
lina, had observed that by doing so the enemy would be 
obliged to follow him or give up his posts in South Caro- 
lina. That if the enemy followed him, it would draw the 
war out of North Carolina and give that State an oppor- 
tunity to raise its proportion of men. That if they left 
their posts in South Carolina to fall, they must lose more 
than they would gain in North Carolina. That if he con- 
tinued in North Carolina, the enemy would hold their 
possessions in both.^ Those were certainly weighty consid- 
erations in the last days of March ; but had they not been 
as urgent in the January before ? In describing the advan- 
tages of the position he had taken at Cheraw in December, 
Greene had pointed out in his correspondence that Lord 
Cornwallis could not move towards Virginia and leave 
Morgan behind him on one side, and himself upon the other. 
That if he did so he would have the whole country open to 
him, with nothing to obstruct his march to Charlestown. 
Such a march, however, he did not contemplate, because it 
would be putting it in the power of the enemy to compel 
him to fight without choosing his ground. Cornwallis 
had, nevertheless, advanced into North Carolina, re- 
gardless of Greene's position at Cheraw, and abandoning 
entirely the supposed advantages of that position, Greene 
had with great difficulty been able to unite with Morgan, 
even though Morgan had defeated Tarleton at Cowpens. 
In contemplating such an advance by Cornwallis, he had 
declared that the only objection to his own move upon 
Charlestown would be that the enemy might force him to 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 37. 



642 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

battle. But this Cornwallis had done in North Carolina, 
at Guilford Court-house, and now upon his return one of 
the conditions of the problem was the necessity of attack- 
ing Lord Rawdon on his own chosen field. Would not, 
therefore, every condition have been better fulfilled had 
General Greene, instead of following Lord Cornwallis in 
the first instance, pursued the plan then contemplated by 
him, but rejected, of advancing upon Charlestown, anticipat- 
ing the battle of Eutaw by eight months. Surely if he felt 
himself strong enough to attack Rawdon after his heavy 
losses at Guilford, he should have considered himself strong 
enough to meet him before his own army was so weakened. 
And if ultimately successful at Eutaw, notwithstanding his 
losses, not only at Guilford, but at Hobkirk's Hill and 
Ninety Six, and that against the enemy reenforced by three 
fresh regiments, is it not reasonable to suppose that if the 
move was wise in March, it would have been wiser in Janu- 
ary ? And that if the movement had taken place then, with 
Sumter and Marion's assistance, he might have recovered 
the State months before, or have compelled Cornwallis 
to return to South Carolina and leave Washington with 
Rochambeau to deal with Sir Henry Clinton. 

The evacuation of Camden on the 10th of May had been 
followed by a series of brilliant successes. Sumter took 
the post at Orangeburgh with its garrison on the 11th. Fort 
Motte surrendered to Marion and Lee on the 12th, and Fort 
Granby to Lee on the 15th. Lord Rawdon, crossing the 
Santee at Nelson's Ferry, had been met by Colonel Balfour 
with the report that the whole country was in revolt, and 
Charlestown in no condition to stand a siege, as the old 
works had been levelled for new ones which had not yet 
been constructed ; within the lines of the town the Royal 
militia had mutinied and had been disarmed, but were 
ready to seize the gates of the town if Greene should ap- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 543 

pear. Without a full knowledge of all these details Sum- 
ter had perceived that the time had come for the combined 
movement for which Greene had before been so anxious. 
The British morale had been completely broken, and the 
country was ready to rise against them. But Greene, in- 
stead of summoning to him Marion and Lee, and acting 
upon Sumter's advice, turned back to besiege Augusta and 
Ninety Six, and let the opportunity slip from his grasp. 
Orders had been issued for the evacuation of both of these 
places by the British garrisons ; and then evacuation had 
only been prevented by the capture of the messengers. 
While sitting down before Ninety Six Greene had learned 
of the arrival of reenforcements in Charlestown, and these 
were soon on the way to raise his siege. The ebb of the 
tide of British power had been stayed ; and the tide now 
turned again upon him. Lord Rawdon reappeared with 
fresh troops. The siege of Ninety Six, after great loss to 
the Americans, was abandoned, and Greene was soon in 
full retreat before the returning foe. 

All the countr}'- below the great rivers which had been 
recovered had been again lost, and Greene was making his 
way for the settlement known as the Catawba Nation, in 
what is now York County, just across from Lancaster, — that 
is, the neighborhood in which Sumter had first rallied and 
formed his bands for recovering the State the year before, — 
when it was learned that Rawdon had abandoned Ninety 
Six and was endeavoring to form a junction with Stuart 
at Orangeburgh. Upon this Greene had returned, and 
again resumed the offensive, hoping to cross the Congaree 
before this junction could be made, and to strike one or the 
other of the parties which should first come up. But in 
this he had failed. Rawdon, Stuart, and Cruger united at 
Orangeburgh, and Greene, with his Continental army, 
retired to the High Hills of San tee for repose. 



544 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Then it was that Sumter had been permitted to carry 
out his plan of again assailing the enemy's post in his rear. 
While Pickens watched the Tories at Ninety Six, and 
Harden with Hayne approached from the lower part of the 
State, with Marion, and with Lee, who was assigned to his 
command for the occasion, Sumter had made the splendid 
raid by which the British posts from the Santee to Charles- 
town itself had all been assailed and carried, Hayne, 
Hampton, and Lee each successively striking within five 
miles of the town itself, carrying the war back to its very 
gates, and exciting terror within its lines. The incursions 
of Sumter and Marion in the winter, during the absence 
of Greene, again renewed with increased vigor upon the 
return of the Continental army, had caused the evacuation 
of Camden and the abandonment of the country north and 
east of the Congaree ; this vigorous movement of the 
South Carolina troops, with the assistance only of Lee and 
his Legion, had shaken the British power to its very centre. 
Rawdon and Stuart and Cruger, it is true, were at Orange- 
burgh, but the whole country around was now in arms 
against them. The battle of Quinby Bridge, in which this 
movement culminated, had not, it is true, resulted as suc- 
cessfully as had reasonably been hoped, but a severe battle 
had been fought with advantage, the enemy losing all 
their baggage and many prisoners, besides the killed and 
wounded, within twenty miles of the town. 

The British never recovered from the effects of this 
movement. The battle of Eutaw, which took place six 
weeks later, has generally been considered as the culmina- 
tion of the war in South Carolina, and in many respects it 
was so. But that battle was for the Americans at best 
but a drawn one. It was not an American victory. 
Greene, who had attacked, collected his shattered forces 
seven miles from the battle-field at night; while Stuart 



IN THE REVOLUTION 545 

remained upon the field and leisurely retreated the next 
day. The battle had not altered the situations of the 
two parties. The movement was made and the battle 
fought for purposes not immediately affecting the war in 
South Carolina. Greene moved to put himself in a posi- 
tion to intercept Cornwallis should that general, retreat- 
ing before Washington and Rochambeau, attempt to reach 
Charlestown. It failed in that object, for Greene was 
obliged again to retire to his former position on the High 
Hills of Santee, where he remained for two months. The 
anticipated movement of Cornwallis which induced Greene's 
advance had not taken place. His lordship had not re- 
treated, but remained to be captured at Yorktown. The 
battle of Eutaw therefore left matters in the State unal- 
•tered. It was the incessant and vigorous partisan warfare 
of Sumter, Marion, Harden, Lee, and latterly, of Washing- 
ton, breaking up the enemy's communication, destroying 
his posts, and carrying the war into his rear, which had 
compelled the abandonment of the country by the British. 
It was the " little strokes," the " partisan strokes," which 
Greene had in January written to Sumter were like 
the garnish of a table, but not to be depended upon for 
the great business of the army, which had really accom- 
plished so much. Greene had been beaten in every 
great affair he had attempted; and yet the country had 
been recovered. To whose policy was this great success 
due? Was it to Greene's; or to that of Sumter, Marion, 
and Lee ? 

The Continental troops while at the High Hills of Santee 
had been in great distress, without money or stores, and, 
worse than all, without medicines or hospital supplies. 
Sickness had increased since the battle of Eutaw, probably 
from the operations in the swamps of the Congaree, and 
the wounded were in a most deplorable condition. Tarleton 

VOL. IV. — 2 N 



546 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and Simcoe in Virginia had destroyed the hospital stores 
on the way to South Carolina. It was at this time, says 
Johnson, when pressed to the earth by the distresses that 
surrounded him, and listening to the daily representations 
made of the forlorn state of his men and officers, not un- 
frequently accompanied with the indignant exclamation, 
" We are abandoned, let us retire," that the general uttered 
that celebrated declaration which South Carolina will never 
forget, '•'• I will deliver the country or perish.^^^ The State 
certainly showed itself not ungrateful for such services as 
the commander of the Southern Department did render 
within her borders. The warmest acknowledgments for 
what he had done were cordially made, and substantial 
emoluments bestowed upon him; while the deeds of her 
own generals were accepted but as services due of right., 
The State to-day does not look back grudgingly upon what 
she then gave heartily. But the historian, in view of all that 
is now known, and of Greene's correspondence, which is 
now public, cannot but observe that this determination to 
stand by South Carolina or perish was not announced until 
General Washington himself had assumed command of the 
Southern Department. Until Washington appeared in Vir- 
ginia, Greene's mind was set upon the command in that 
State. It was Lee's importunity and Rawdon's evacuation 
of Camden only that had prevented his abandonment of 
the State immediately after his defeat at Hobkirk's Hill. 
It was his intention to have returned to Virginia with a 
part if not all of his forces, had Ninety Six fallen, leaving 
the volunteer bands of South Carolina alone to oppose 
Lord Rawdon's army, which, though then below the Santee, 
was no weaker than when it had beaten him at Hobkirk's 
Hill. He had failed before Ninety Six and was in full 
retreat northward when Rawdon's evacuation of Ninety 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 249. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 547 

Six caused him again to pause, as the evacuation of Cam- 
den had in April stopped his desertion of the State at that 
time. 

Besides other great advantages which had been derived 
from the brilliant successes of Sumter, Marion, Pickens, 
and Lee during the first months of the year, two very 
marked effects resulted to the American cause. The first 
of these was that the number of prisoners taken from 
the British, in the forts captured, forced an exchange of 
prisoners, including not only those taken in the field, but as 
well the St. Augustine exiles. The second was that, by 
reason of the recovery of territory in which they resided, 
and the incapacity of the British to afford protection, many 
of those who had given paroles considered themselves re- 
leased from their obligations. 

The first of these returned Henderson and many other 
valuable officers and stalwart men to the American ranks ; 
and the second returned to the service of the State the 
original movers in the Revolution — men of great personal 
influence and character. The effort to check these move- 
ments induced by the second of these causes led to the 
long imprisonment of Postell and the execution of Hayne. 
But, however tragic the latter event, it was as nothing to 
the terrors and distress of the people caused by the inter- 
necine war which arose as the armies swept to and fro from 
one end of the State to the other. 

In consequence of these civil wars between the Whigs 
and Tories, says Ramsay, the incursions of the savages, 
and the other calamities resulting from the operations of 
the British and American armies, South Carolina exhibited 
scenes of distress which were shocking to humanity. The 
single district of Ninety Six, which was only one of seven 
into which the State was then divided, was computed by 
well-informed persons residing therein to contain within its 



648 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

limits fourteen hundred widows and orphans made so by 
the war. Nor was it wonderful that the country was 
involved in such accumulated distress. The State govern- 
ment was suspended and the British conquerors were care- 
less of the civil rights of the inhabitants. Order and police 
were scarcely objects of their attention. The will of the 
strongest was the law. Such was the general character 
of those who called themselves Royalists that nothing could 
be expected from them, unrestrained as they were by civil 
government, but outrages against the peace and order of 
society. Though among the Tories in the lower parts of 
South Carolina there were gentlemen of honor, principle, 
and humanity, 3'^et in the interior and frontier a great pro- 
portion of them constituted an ignorant, unprincipled ban- 
ditti, to whom idleness, licentiousness, and deeds of violence 
were familiar. Horse thieves and others whose crimes had 
exiled them from society, the same class who had given 
rise to the Regulators a few years before, attached them- 
selves to parties of the British. Encouraged by their ex- 
ample and instigated by the love of plunder, they committed 
the most extensive depredations. Under cloak of attach- 
ment to the old government they covered the basest and 
most selfish purposes. They could scarcely ever be brought 
to the field of battle. They sometimes furnished the 
British army with intelligence and provisions, but on all 
other accounts their services were of very little impor- 
tance.^ 

This characterization of Tories by Doctor Ramsay, espe- 
cially of those of the Up-Country, is doubtless generally 
correct ; but there were some in the upper part of the State 
who were as honorable and high-minded men as any who 
stood out in the Low-Country — indeed if not as true men 
as any of those who espoused the other side. Nothing has 
1 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 275-276. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 549 

ever been alleged as dishonorable of Robert or Patrick Cun- 
ingliam or of Fletchall, Robinson, or Pearis. It is to be 
feared indeed that the first of these had stronger cause of 
complaint against the conduct of the Whigs to himself 
than he had ever afforded to them. Nor can we be blind 
to the fact that the British officers charged great atrocities 
upon the part of men calling themselves Whigs, charges 
which are, at least in some measure, sustained by the corre- 
spondence of our own officers. Colonel Wade Hampton 
writing, as we have seen, that after the army left the neigh- 
borhood of Friday's Ferry for the High Hills of Santee 
almost every person who remained in the settlement after 
the army marched seems to have been combined in com- 
mitting robberies the most base and inhuman that ever dis- 
graced mankind ; and another officer declaring that the 
practice of plunder continued to such a degree that the 
poor inhabitants trembled the moment a party of men 
appeared in sight.^ The truth no doubt is that while gen- 
erally, as the war went on, the better classes of the people 
sided more and more with the Revolutionists, and the lower 
and worst with the British, mutual injuries led to revenge, 
and plunder was indulged in, if not recognized as a mode 
of legitimate warfare. It has already been pointed out 
in these pages how much the system of maintaining the 
State troops, adopted from necessity by Sumter and after- 
wards approved and carried out by General Greene, Gov- 
ernor Rutledge, and the General Assembly, encouraged this 
ruinous practice. 

As, however, the military forces recovered possession of 
the State, Governor Rutledge, with such of his council as 
he could gather around him, proceeded to reestablish civil 
government, and to put a stop to lawlessness; but this, in 
the condition of affairs, was but slow and gradual work.. 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 186-187. 



650 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The better to accomplish it, as General Greene moved 
down to the Low-Country at the end of the year, Governor 
Rutledge called a new Assembly, to meet at Jackson- 
borough in January. 

When the year 1781 began, the British had possession 
of almost the entire State. General Greene, with his small 
Continental army, was but just across the North Carolina 
line at Cheraw. Morgan, it is true, was at Grindall's 
Shoals on the Pacolet, threatening Ninety Six, and Marion 
from Snow Island was pushing his scouting parties towards 
Charlestown and Georgetown; but the British authority, 
supported by British arms, was everywhere paramount. 
When the year ended British rule was practically confined 
to Charlestown and its immediate vicinity. 

During the year sixty-two battles, great and small, had 
been fought in the State. If we include the days spent 
in the sieges of Fort Watson, Fort Motte, and Ninety Six, 
there had been fighting by organized and commissioned 
forces 100 days in the 365. In the disturbed and dis- 
organized condition of affairs the reports of the strength of 
the forces, of the killed, wounded, and prisoners lost on 
either side, are very defective, and in many cases, especially 
in the affairs under Sumter and Marion which took place 
during the absence of Greene, are entirely wanting. The 
following table has been compiled from such accounts as 
still exist. The engagements marked in roman letters 
were those in which Continental troops took part. Those 
in italics were fought by South Carolina partisan bands 
without any assistance. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 



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IN THE REVOLUTION 653 

From this table it appears that of the sixty-two engage- 
ments during the year the State forces, volunteer and 
enlisted, fought forty-five without any assistance whatever, 
Continental or other. One, the battle of Hobkirk's Hill, 
was fought by the Continental army without the assistance 
of any South Carolina troops. The other sixteen were 
fought by the combined Continentals and State troops. 
There was one very marked difference between the engage- 
ments by the partisan bands in this year from those of the 
preceding. In 1780 the South Carolina volunteers had 
had the constant and vigorous assistance of similar bodies 
from North Carolina, sometimes from Georgia, and in 
one instance, that of King's Mountain, from Virginia. 
But Davie had unfortunately been taken from the field by 
General Greene for staff duty, and his splendid little corps 
disbanded. Davidson had been killed at Cowan's Ford 
early in the year, and the other leaders of that State, Mc- 
Dowell, Shelby, and Sevier, had remained inactive now that 
the war was transferred again to South Carolina. The 
two latter, it is true, had, at General Greene's earnest ap- 
peal, come for a while ; but refused to remain, and had 
abandoned him at a most critical moment without having 
fired a gun. Colonel Clarke with his band of Georgians 
had taken an active part with General Pickens in the affair 
at Beattie's Mill and at the siege of Augusta, but his opera- 
tions for the rest of the year had been confined to his own 
State. 

The returns of killed, wounded, and missing in several 
of these engagements are entirely wanting, and in other 
instances are to be found onl};^ for one side or the other. 
From those that have been preserved it appears that, during 
the absence of General Greene in North Carolina, in the 
engagements by Sumter and Marion, the Whigs inflicted a 
loss upon the British and Tories in killed, wounded, and 



654 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

prisoners taken, of 249, at a loss to themselves of 101. But 
these figures do not include the loss to the enemy at Sam- 
pit on the 19th of January, in which many British and 
Tories were wounded, nor at Wadboo and Monck's Corner, 
in which the Postells attacked the posts and carried off 
all the stores, presumably not without considerable loss to 
the enemy in men, nor at Fort Granby when first besieged 
by Sumter, nor at Wright's Bluff which he assaulted ; nor 
in Marion's affairs, of Mount Hope, Black River, Sampit, and 
Witherspoon's Ferry, though in these Marion so worsted 
the British that he drove them from the San tee into George- 
town. The statistics of these affairs would add consider- 
ably to the list of casualties on both sides, but would not 
probably alter the proportion of nearly three to one in favor 
of the Americans. During the year the South Carolina 
partisan bands in their warfare had forty-five affairs, great 
and small, and had put Iwrs de combat 825 of the enemy at 
a loss to themselves of 263. At Hobkirk's Hill, in the 
evacuation of Camden, Eggleston's capture, Washington's 
Raid, and in the affairs at Dorchester, in which none but 
Continentals were engaged, the losses were not so unequal, 
the British losing 388 and the Americans 283. In the 
eleven battles in which both Continentals and State troops 
took part the British lost 2268; and the Americans, 859. 
The aggregate loss of the British in South Carolina during 
the year was 3526, and of the Americans, 1405. 

The surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in 
October had practically decided the war ; but the fighting 
was not yet over in South Carolina. In 1782 much more 
blood was to be uselessly shed. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

1781-1782 

On the 23d of November, 1781, Governor Rutledge wrote 
letters to the brigadier-generals, sending them writs for 
the election of members of the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives. He requested these officers to insert in each 
writ sent them respectively the names of three such per- 
sons as were deemed proper to manage the elections. The 
writs so prepared, he directed, should be forwarded by 
careful hands to the persons therein named. His instruc- 
tions were that where an election could not be held in the 
parish or district for which members were to be chosen, it 
should be held at a point nearest to it, where the greatest 
number of persons entitled to vote could meet with safety 
and convenience. The brigadiers were to advise the man- 
agers whom they appointed as to the selection of polling 
places.^ " Cassius," in the pamphlet before alluded to, 
asserts that these writs of election were accompanied with 
printed instructions to the returning officers not to admit 
any person to vote but such as obeyed the governor's proc- 
lamation ; and that the returning officers had also further 
orders to choose particular men whom he named, and ac- 
cording to such nomination they were chosen. There is 
no allusion to any such instructions in the letters to Sum- 
ter and Marion which are preserved. But all accounts 
agree that it was ordered by the governor and council 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. {11^1-^2), 214 ; Sumter MSS. 
555 



556 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

that at the election only such votes should be received 
as were offered by persons who had not taken protection, 
or, who having done so, had, notwithstanding, rejoined their 
countrymen under Governor Rutledge's proclamation of 
the 27th of September, 1781. Other persons, though resi- 
dents, were not considered as freemen of the State, or 
entitled to tlie full privilege of citizenship.^ 

As the governor's proclamation, says Johnson, precluded 
all persons from voting who had taken protection, it will 
readily be conjectured of what material the body elected 
would be composed. It was not strictl}^, he observes, an 
assembly of armed barons, but there were few, if any, 
whose swords had not been girt to their thighs in the 
common cause.^ The exchange of prisoners had liberated 
the exiles, and those confined on the prison ships, the 
influence of whose character had too long been lost to the 
State. These were now returning, ready to assist with 
their counsel in repairing the desolation of war. From all 
quarters, says Lee, were flocking home our unfortunate, 
maltreated prisoners. The old and the young, the rich 
and the poor, were hastening to their native soil, burying 
their particular griefs in the joy universally felt in conse- 
quence of the liberation of their country. They found 
their houses burnt, their plantations laid waste, and the 
rich rewards of a life of industry and economy dissipated. 
Without money, without credit, with debilitated constitu- 
tions, with scars and aches, this brave, patriotic group 
gloried in the adversity they had experienced because 
the price of their personal liberty and of national inde- 
pendence. They had lost their wealth, they had lost their 
health, and had lost the props of their declining years in 

1 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 334; Moultrie's Memoirs^ 
vol. II, 304. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 282, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 557 

the field of battle ; but they had established the indepen- 
dence of their country.^ 

The Assembly about to convene was composed almost 
entirely of two classes : Prisoners, — the exiles to St. 
Augustine and those confined on the prison ships, — and 
ofiicers of the Continental army, State troops, and militia. 
Among those who were returned from the parishes of St. 
Philip and St. Michael's, Charlestown, the senators were 
Arthur Middleton, the signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, an exile to St. Augustine, and Colonel Isaac 
Motte, who had been second in command at Fort Moultrie 
on the 28th of June, 1776. As representatives there were 
Thomas Hey ward, Jr., and Edward Rutledge, the other 
two living signers of the Declaration ; Henry Laurens, 
just released from the Tower in London, and Colonel 
John Laurens, his son ; Hugh Rutledge ; John Neuf- 
ville, the chairman, it will be recollected, of the general 
committee of the non-importers in 1769 ; Major Thomas 
Grimball, who commanded the Charlestown Battalion 
of Artillery during the siege of the city ; Dr. David 
Ramsa}^ the future historian, and other exiles, with Major 
Thomas Pinckney and Colonel James Postell. The 
senator from Christ Church was Colonel Arnoldus Vander- 
horst, and Major John Vanderhorst a representative, two 
of Marion's officers. Marion himself was senator from St. 
John's, Berkeley. From St. Andrew's, John Rutledge, the 
governor ; Richard Hutson, Benjamin Cattell, exiles, and 
Major Peter Bocquet were among the representatives. 
From St. George's, Dorchester, Dr. David Oliphant, the 
surgeon-general, was elected as senator; General Isaac 
Huger, General William Moultrie, Colonel Charles Cotes- 
worth Pinckney, John Mathews, the member of Congress, 
and Edward Blake, an exile, representatives. St. James's, 
1 Memoirs of the War of 1776, 450. 



658 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Goose Creek, chose as representatives Ralph Izard, who 
had been one of the American envoys abroad, and who 
was now serving as a volunteer in the army, and William 
Johnson and George Flagg, two exiles. From St. Thomas 
and St. Denis's, Major Isaac Harleston was senator. 
From St. Paul's, Joseph Bee, an exile, was senator, and 
Thomas Bee, formerly lieutenant-governor ; Thomas Fer- 
guson and Morton Wilkinson, exiles, were representatives. 
From St. Bartholomew's, Major Edmund Hyrne, aide-de- 
camp' to General Greene, who had so admirably managed 
the exchange of prisoners on the American side, was 
elected a representative. From St. Helena, Major Pierce 
Butler 1 and Thomas Heyward, Sr., were elected. Prince 
George's, Winyaw, elected a strong delegation, includ- 
ing Colonel Hugh Horry as senator. General Christopher 
Gadsden, Colonel Peter Hqrry, Major William Benison, and 
Captain Thomas Mitchell. Captain William Alston, and 
Nathaniel D wight, whose house Watson had burned, were 
the representatives from All Saints. From Prince Fred- 
erick's there were Colonel John Baxter, who had been so 
severely wounded at Quinby ; Major John James, Captain 
William McCottry, Captain John McCauley, and Colonel 
James Postell, all Marion's men. Among the represen- 
tatives from St. Peter's was Colonel William Stafford. 
Tlie senator from Prince William's was Colonel William 

1 This gentleman had been major in the Twenty-ninth Regiment, 
British army, and was engaged as such in the Boston Riots, the 5th of 
March, 1770. He had been with his regiment in South Carolina previ- 
ously. He subsequently returned and married Miss Mary Middleton, 
daughter of Colonel Thomas Middleton (who had commanded the South 
Carolina Regiment in the Cherokee expedition in 1701), espoused the 
American cause, resigned his commission in the British army, and served 
in the American. He and Ralph Izard were the two first United States 
senators from South Carolina. (See So. Ca. Gazette, April 20, 1769 ; So. 
Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette, Jan. 14, 1771 ; Johnson's Traditions, 470.) 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 559 

Harden. From the district to the eastward of the 
Wateree — that is, the Camden district — General Sumter 
was chosen senator, and among the ten representatives 
were James Bradley, with the marks of iron still on his 
wrists, where they had remained since Tarleton's brutal 
treatment; Joseph Kershaw, just released and returned 
from Bermuda, where he had been exiled with his brother 
Ely, who had died on the voyage of typhus dysentery taken 
in the prison ships ; Colonel Richard Richardson ; and 
Major John James, who had been returned also from 
Prince Frederick's. From Ninety Six the senator was John 
Lewis Gervais, the member of the council who had gone 
out with Governor Rutledge from Charlestown before its 
capitulation, and had succeeded in keeping out of the 
reach of the enemy, remaining steadfast to the cause 
while the two other councillors who had gone with them 
had returned to their plantations and taken protection. 
General Pickens, Colonel Robert Anderson, Colonel 
Le Roy Hammond, Major Hugh Middleton, Patrick 
Calhoun, John Ewing Colhoun, and Arthur Simkins, 
whose house the Tories had burned, were representatives. 
Colonels Wade Hampton and Richard Hampton were 
representatives from Saxe Gotha. From the upper district 
between the Broad and Saluda, that is, what is now Spar- 
tanburg County, the representatives were General William 
Henderson, Colonel Thomas Brandon, one of the heroes of 
King's Mountain, Samuel McJunkin, father of the famous 
Whig partisan, Joseph McJunkin, and Colonel John 
Thomas, Jr., the hero of Cedar Springs. Colonel Thomas 
Taylor was senator from the district between the Broad 
and the Catawba, and among the representatives were 
Colonel James Lyles, Colonel Edward Lacey, and Colonel 
Richard Winn. Colonel William Hill, whose iron works 
were destroyed by Huck, and who had served so gallantly 

f 



560 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

under Sumter and at King's Mountain, was a representa- 
tive from the New Acquisition (York). Colonel William 
Thomson, who had repulsed the British under Sir Henry- 
Clinton when attempting to cross from Long Island to 
Sullivan's Island on the memorable 28th of June, 1776, 
was senator from St. Matthew's and Orange. Major 
Thomas, who had captured the party on the Pee Dee in Sep- 
tember, 1780, was a representative from St. David's Parish.^ 

As already stated, Governor Rutledge had first intended 
to have called this Assembl}^ to meet at Camden, but the 
capture of Governor Burke and his council in North 
Carolina had warned him of the danger of assembling 
the body at a place beyond the immediate protection of 
the army. General Greene, upon his excursion to Dor- 
chester, finding the country between the Edisto and Ashley 
possessed of sufficient military advantages to admit of 
his covering Jacksonborough, warmly pressed the governor 
and council to convene the legislature at that place — 
a strong consideration, doubtless, also was that so many 
of the Assembly were officers of the army it would have 
been impracticable to have formed a quorum except in its 
immediate vicinity. Jacksonborough was a small village 
on the west bank of the Edisto, where the river is known 
by the name of Pon Pon. It consisted of the court- 
house, jail, and two or three small houses, and was distant 
about thirty-five miles from Charlestown. An incidental 
advantage contemplated by the establishment of the seat 
of government at this place was the assertion of the com- 
plete recovery of the State. 

The legislature convened, as called, on the 18th of 
January, 1782. By the constitution of 1778 its full mem- 
bership consisted of 28 senators and 174 representatives. 

1 For full list of members of the Jacksonborough legislature, see MS. 
journal of Josiah Smith, Jr., and Appendix A to this volume. 



IN THE llEVOLUTION 561 

A quorum was constituted of 13 senators and 69 repre- 
sentatives. On the day appointed, 13 senators, just enough 
to organize the Senate, and 74 representatives, but a few 
more tlian was necessary to organize the House, appeared.^ 
It was indeed a notable assembly. True, some of its most 
distinguished members were absent, as, for instance, Henry 
Laurens, who, just released from the Tower, was still in 
London. So, too, several of the exiles were yet detained in 
Philadelphia, finding no means of returning, and some on 
the journey home had not yet arrived. Not all of the 
military officers could leave their posts at the same time ; 
nor could all elected provide for the sustenance and 
defence of their families in the distracted state of the 
country so as to allow them to attend. It was remarkable 
that, in the condition of affairs in the State, so large 
a number as that which appeared could be found to 
assemble. Those who did were all true and tried Whigs ; 
the qualifications of electors as prescribed in the proclama- 
tion precluded any other. Indeed, as already observed, it 
was charged that Governor Rutledge had himself selected 
and dictated who should be chosen. There appears to be, 
however, no evidence to support the assertion, nor could 
an election at this time and under the circumstances be 
expected to return men of any other character than those 
who now appeared. A more distinguished body of men 
had never before, and never after, met in the State of 
South Carolina, nor perhaps in any State in the Union. 
All the original leaders in the Revolution who had remained 
true to their principles, most of whom had endured impris- 
onment and exile in support of them, were there ; and to 
these were added the new set of heroes who had taken up 
the cause when the first were overwhelmed in defeat and 
carried into captivity, and who had now recovered the 

1 Marion's letter to Maham, Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1782-82), 232. 

VOL. IV. — 2 o 



562 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

State, and restored the former leaders to position. The 
Assembly was composed, not only of patriots who had 
proved their fidelity by suffering, but of statesmen, jurists, 
scholars, and soldiers, many of whom had but commenced 
careers of distinguislied services, and whose names are 
still handed down with pride and reverence, and preserved 
in the names of counties, towns, and fortresses, and by 
every means by which a grateful posterity might enshrine 
their memories. 

The assemblage was remarkable, too, because it was 
the first in which there had been real representatives in the 
legislature from all parts of the State. In this body 
Sumter and Pickens and Taylor and Lacey and Winn 
and the Hamptons and Hammonds appeared, and brought 
with them from the Up-Countrj^, which their swords 
had redeemed, as much weight in council as tliat which 
had hitlierto been carried by the Rutledges, Pinckneys, 
Middletons, and others of the Low-Country. 

But with all the ability and high cliaracter of the mem- 
bers, the circumstances under which they met were such 
as to preclude moderation and fairness in their dealings 
with their fellow-countrymen who had espoused the cause 
of their enemies. 

Upon the assembling of the body, John Lewis Gervais 
was chosen President of the Senate, and Philip Prioleau, 
Clerk; Hugh Rutledge, Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives, and John Berwick, Clerk. ^ No journal of either House 
is now to be found. The court-house and jail probably 
were used as Senate chamber and hall of the House ; paper 
was scarce ; and beyond the address of the Governor, the 
replies of the two Houses, and the statutes actually passed, 
we have but little account of the proceedings of this famous 

1 Ramsay's Eevohition in So. Ca., vol. II, 346, 349 ; MS. diary of Josiah 
Smith, Jr. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 563 

Assembly. As there were but two or three houses in the 
village, the members probably found such accommodations 
as they could upon the neighboring plantations, or in the 
cantonments of the army under the protection of which 
the legislature was held. 

The Houses having organized on Friday, the 18th day 
of January, 1782, his Excellency, John Rutledge, the gov- 
ernor, delivered an address, or "speech," as it was termed, 
the importance of which, marking out as it did the lines 
followed by the Assembly, it is well to give somewhat at 
length. It was as follows : ^ — 

" Since the last meeting of the General Assembly, the good people 
of this State have not only felt the common calamities of war, but, 
from the wanton and savage manner in which it has been prosecuted, 
they have experienced such severities as are unpractised, and will 
scarcely be credited by civilized nations. 

" The enemy, unable to make any impression on the Northern 
States, the number of whose inhabitants, and the strength of whose 
country, had baffled their repeated efforts, turned their views towards 
the Southern, which, a difference of circumstances, afforded some ex- 
pectation of conquering, or at least of greatly distressing. After a 
long resistance, the reduction of Charlestown was effected, by the vast 
superiority of force with which it had been besieged. The loss of 
that garrison, as it consisted of the continental troops of Virginia 
and the Carolinas, and of a number of militia, facilitated the enemy's 
march into the country, and their establishment of strong posts in 
the upper and inteiior parts of it ; and the unfavourable issue of the 
action near Camden induced them vainly to imagine, that no other 
army could be collected which they might not easily defeat. The 
militia, commanded by the Brigadiers Sumpter and Marion, whose 
enterprising spirit and unremitted perseverance under many difficul- 
ties are deserving of great applause, harassed and often defeated large 
parties; but the numbers of those militia were too few to contend 
effectually with the collected strength of the enemy. Regardless, 
therefore, of the sacred ties of honour, destitute of the feelings of 
humanity, and determined to extinguish, if possible, every spark of 
freedom in this country, they, with the insolent pride of conquerors, 
1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 234. 



564 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

gave unbounded scope to the exercise of their tyrannical disposition, 
infringed their publick engagements, and violated their most solemn 
capitulations. Many of our worthiest citizens were, without cause, 
long and closely confined, — some on board of prison-ships, and others 
in the town and castle of St. Augustine, — tlieir properties disposed 
of at the will and caprice of the enemy, and their families sent to dif- 
ferent and distant parts of the continent without the means of sup- 
port. Many who had surrendered as prisoners of war were killed in 
cold blood — several suffered death in the most ignominious manner, 
and others were delivered up to savages, and put to tortures under 
which they expired. Thus the lives, liberties and properties of the 
j)eople were dependent solely on the pleasure of British officers, who 
deprived them, of either or all on the most frivolous pretences. 
Indians, slaves, and a desperate banditti of the most profligate char- 
acters, were caressed and employed by the enemy to execute their 
infamous purposes. Devastation and ruin marked their progress 
and that of their adherents — nor were their violences restrained by 
the charms or influence of beauty and innocence — even the fair sex, 
whom it is the duty of all, and the pleasure and pride of the brave, to 
protect — they, and their tender offspring, were victims to the inveterate 
malice of an unrelenting foe. Neither the tears of mothers, nor the 
cries of infants, could excite in their breasts pity or compassion. Not 
only the peaceful habitations of the widow, the aged and infirm, but 
the holy temples of the Most High were consumed in flames kindled 
by their sacrilegious hands. They have tarnished the glory of the 
British arms, disgraced the profession of a British soldier, and fixed 
indelible stigmas of rapine, cruelty, perfidy and profaneness, on the 
British name. But I can now congratulate you, and I do so most 
cordially, on the pleasing change of affairs which, under the bless- 
ing of God, the wisdom, prudence, address, and bravery of the great 
and gallant General Greene, and the intrepidity of the officers and 
men under his command, has been happily effected — a general who is 
justly entitled, from his many signal services, to honourable and singu- 
lar marks of your approbation and gratitude. His successes have been 
more rapid and complete than the most sanguine could have expected. 
The enemy, compelled to surrender or evacuate every post which they 
held in the country, frequently defeated and driven from place to place, 
are obliged to seek refuge under the walls of Charlestown, and on 
islands in its vicinity. We have now the full and absolute possession 
of every other part of the State ; and the legislative, executive, and 
judicial powers are in the free exercise of their respective authorities. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 565 

His Excellency then went on to congratulate the Assem- 
bly on the glorious victory obtained at Yorktown by the 
combined forces of America and France over their common 
enemy, on the perfect harmony which subsisted between 
the two countries, on the stability which the indepen- 
dence of America had acquired, and on the certainty that it 
was too deeply rooted ever to be shaken. Then discussing 
what might be the immediate effects on the British nation 
of the events he had mentioned, and of their well-founded 
apprehensions from the powers of France, Spain, and Hol- 
land, he continued : — 

" If, however, we judge as we ought of their future by their past 
conduct, we may presume that they will not only endeavour to keep 
possession of our capital, but make another attempt, howsoever im- 
probable the success of it may appear, to subjugate this country. It 
is therefore highly incumbent on us to use our most strenuous efforts 
to frustrate so fatal a design. And I earnestly conjure you by the 
duty which you owe, and the sacred love which you bear, to your 
country; by the constant remembrance of her bitter sufferings; and by 
the just detestation of British government, which you and your 
posterity must forever possess, to exert your utmost faculties for that 
purpose, by raising and eqviipping, with all possible expedition, a 
respectable, permanent force, and by making ample provision for their 
comfortable subsistence. I am sensible the expense will be great, but 
a measure so indispensable to the preservation of our freedom, is above 
every pecuniary consideration. 

" The organization of our militia is likewise a subject of infinite im- 
portance. A clear and concise law, by which the burdens will be equally 
sustained, and a competent number of men brought forth and kept in 
the field when their assistance may be required, is essential to our 
security', and therefore justly claims your immediate and serious atten- 
tion. Certain it is, that some of our militia have, upon several occa- 
sidiis, exhibited instances of valour, which would have reflected honour 
on veteran troops. The courage and conduct of the generals whom I 
have mentioned, the cool and determined bravery repeatedly displayed 
by Brigadier Pickens, and, indeed, the behaviour of many officers and 
men in every brigade, are unquestionable testimonies of the truth of 



566 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

this assertion ; but such behaviour cannot be expected from militia in 
general, Avithout good order and strict discipline — nor can that order 
and discipline be established but by salutary law steadily executed." 

His Excellency then proceeded to address the Assembly 
upon a subject of most vital interest to the State, and one 
in dealing with which the greatest statesmanship was de- 
manded. He said : — 

" Another important matter for your deliberation, is the conduct of 
such of our citizens as voluntarily avowing their allegiance, and even 
glorying in their profession of loyalty and attachment to his Britan- 
nick Majesty, have offered their congratulations on the success of his 
arms, prayed to be embodied as Royal militia, accepted commissions 
in his service, and endeavoured to subvert our constitution and estab- 
lish his power in its stead — of those who have returned to this State 
in defiance of a law by which such return was declared to be a capital 
offence, and have abetted the British interest — and of such whose 
behaviour has been so reprehensible, that justice and policy forbid 
their free re-admission to the rights and privileges of citizens." 

Continuing the subject, his Excellency added : — 

" The extraordinary lenity of this State has been remarkably conspic- 
uous ; other States have thought it just and expedient to appropriate 
the property of British subjects to the public use, but we have for- 
borne to take even the profits of the estates of our most implacable 
enemies. It is with you to determine whether the forfeiture and ap- 
propriation of their property should now take place. If such shall be 
your determination, though many of our firmest friends have been re- 
duced, for their inflexible attachment to the cause of their country, from 
opulence to inconceivable distress, and, if the enemy's will and power 
had prevailed, would have been doomed to indigence and beggary, yet 
it will redound to the reputation of this State to provide a becoming 
support for the families of those whom you may deprive of their, 
property." I 

Then turning to the financial condition of the State, he 
proceeded : — 

" The value of the paper currency became of late so much depreci- 
ated that it was requisite, under the powers vested in the executive 



IN THE REVOLUTION 567 

during the recess of the General Assembly, to suspend the laws by 
which it was made a tender. You will now consider whether it may 
not be proper to repeal those laws, and fix some equitable mode for 
the discharge of debts contracted whilst paper money was in circula- 
tion. 

" In the present scarcity of specie it would be difficult, if not imprac- 
ticable, to levy a tax to any considerable amount towards sinking the 
public debt ; nor will creditors of the State expect that such a tax 
should, at this time, be imposed ; but it is just and reasonable, that all 
unsettled demands should be liquidated, and satisfactory assurances of 
payment given to the publick creditors." 

In conclusion the governor added : — 

" The interest and honour, the safety and happiness of our country, 
depend so much on the result of your deliberations, that I flatter my- 
self you will proceed, in the weighty business before you, with firmness 
and temper, with vigour, unanimity and despatch." ^ 

How far General Greene was entitled to the principal, if 
not sole, credit of the redemption of the State, which, under 
the blessing of God, the governor attributed to hira, has 
already in a measure been considered, and the subject may 
again be alluded to when we come to narrate the action of the 
Assembly at the suggestion of his Excellency in the rewards 
heaped upon him. It is sufficient now to observe that, while 
the enterprising spirit and unremitted perseverance of 
Sumter and Marion are commended, little importance 
was attached by the governor to their conduct as forerun- 
ning the action of Greene, and preparing the way for his 
successes, if not accomplishing results of which his suc- 
cesses were only the natural and inevitable consequences. 

In stating that the Whigs had now the full and absolute 
possession of every part of the State but Charlestown and 
the neighboring islands, and that the legislative, executive, 
and judicial powers were in the free exercise of their respec- 
tive authorities, the governor rather overstated the result 
1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 334-342. 



668 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

that had been so far accomplished. The legislature at 
the time was sitting only under the protection of the army, 
and judicial powers could scarcely be said to be in existence. 
No sheriff could have served a writ without military as- 
sistance, nor could a court have been convened or have 
held a session except, as in the case of the legislature, under 
the protecting wing of the army. As a matter of fact the 
courts were not opened for nearly a year after. His Ex- 
cellency had indeed but begun the reestablishraent of civil 
government, and this only by the aid of military power. 

To this address answers were returned by the two Houses 
of Assembly. The answers did but little more than echo 
his Excellency's address, save in regard to General Greene, 
of whom they spoke in still more exalted terms. The 
Senate, without an allusion to Sumter, Marion, or Pickens, 
answered : — 

" It is with inexpressible pleasure, that we receive your Excellency's 
congratulation upon the great and glorious events of the campaign, 
on the happy change of affairs, and on the pleasing prospect before us ; 
and we assure your Excellency, that we concur most sincerely with you, 
in acknowledging and applauding the meritorious zeal, and the very 
important services which have been rendered to this State by the 
great and gallant General Greene, and the brave and intrepid officers 
and men under his command, and to whom we shall be happy to give 
the most honourable and singular testimonies of our approbation and 
applause." 

The House, in still more extravagant language, replied : — 

" We should betray a great degree of insensibility, and be wanting 
in justice to his merit, should we omit this occasion of acknowledging, 
with the warmest gratitude, our obligations to the great and gallant 
General Greene. His achievements in this State, while they rank him 
with the greatest commanders of ancient or modern date, will engrave 
his name in indelible characters on the heart of every friend to this 
country. Our acknowledgments are also due to all the brave officers 
and men under his command who have so often fought, bled, and 
conquered for us." 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 569 

This branch of the Assembly, however, added this much 
merit of praise to the partisan leaders of the State : — 

" The Grenerals Sumpter, Marion, and Pickens, with the brave militia 
under their commands, those virtuous citizens who did not despair of 
the commonwealth in her greatest extremity, are deserving of the 
highest commendation." 

Pickens was at this time away conducting his most 
successful campaign against the Indians, but both Sumter 
and Marion were present in the Senate ; probably it was 
their modesty and delicacy which excluded from the pro- 
ceedings of the Senate any recognition of the great services 
they had rendered, not only 'before and during Greene's 
campaign in the State, but while he had abandoned it to 
meet Lord Cornwallis in North Carolina. 



CHAPTER XXV 

1782 

The suggestions of his Excellency in his address were 
all carried out by the legislature. Indeed, it may be said 
that he moulded its action in his proclamation of the 27th 
of September and in his address. 

Under the constitution of 1778 the term of office of the 
governor and lieutenant-governor was to continue for two 
years, and no one serving in either of these offices was 
reeligible for a period of four years after.^ Governor 
Rutledge had been elected in January, 1779, and Chris- 
topher Gadsden had, during the siege of Charlestown, in 
May, 1780, been appointed lieutenant-governor in the 
place of Thomas Bee, who was in Philadelphia attending 
the Continental Congress. Their terms of office, under 
the Constitution, consequently expired in January, 1781, 
but at that time the British had possession of the whole 
State, and no election could be held. The first duty of the 
present Assembly which now met was, therefore, to elect a 
governor and lieutenant-governor. The Tories, no doubt 
learning of Sumter's resignation, built up great hopes of dis- 
cord and jealousies among the Whigs at this time. The 
Royal Gazette of the 26th of December, 1781, announcing 
that the Assembly was soon to meet and that a new governor 
was to be chosen, added as information from the rebel 
country that "the aristocratick party as they are styled 

1 Statutes at Large, vol. I, 138. 
570 



IN THE BEVOLUTION 571 

are strenuous for Mr. Ralph Izard, Senior — to whom Mr. 
Sumter is opposed by a considerable body of the Back- 
Country people." Whether there was any real foundation 
for such a rumor is not further known ; but certain it is 
that, though aggrieved by the action of Governor Rutledge 
at the instigation of General Greene, Sumter lent himself 
to no such intrigue. So far was he from seeking to be 
elected governor that on the 22d of December he writes 
to General Greene, acknowledging the receipt of two 
letters, of the 12th and 15th. "In the former of these 
letters you asked if I did not intend to get into the Gen- 
eral Assembly. It is probable I may serve if elected, but 
as I never have solicited any public appointment, I can't 
think of doing it now." And when elected to the Senate, 
he gave the new governor his most active support, not- 
withstanding the ill treatment he conceived himself to 
have received, volunteering even to recruit men for the 
Continental battalions, though himself out of the service.^ 
The Assembly went into an election for a governor, and 
Christopher Gadsden, the lieutenant-governor, was chosen, 
but he declined the office in a speech which Ramsay reports 
as to this effect : — 

" I have served you in a variety of stations for thirty years, and I 
would now cheerfully make one of a forlorn hope in an assault on the 
lines of Charlestown, if it was probable that, with the certain loss 
of my life, you would be reinstated in the possession of your capital. 

1 Letter of Governor Mathews accepting his offer, March 11, 1782, 
Sumter MSS. Governor Mathews writes to Sumter: "The estab- 
lishing an armory is certainly a very desirable object. I will consider 
your proposal and acquaint you with the result as soon as I can. Your 
undertaking to recruit men for our Continental battalions would be ren- 
dering your country a most substantial service. I therefore request you 
would proceed on that business with every possible attention, and inform 
General Huger of my desire that you would engage in this important 
business." 



572 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

What I can do for my country I am willing to do. My sentiments of 
the American cause, from the Stamp Act downwards, have never 
changed. I am still of opinion that it is the cause of liberty and of 
human nature. If my acceptance of the office of governor would 
serve my country, though my administration would be attended with 
the loss of personal credit and reputation, I would cheerfully under- 
take it. The present times require the vigour and activity of the 
prime of life ; but I feel the increasing infirmities of old age to such a 
degree, that I am conscious I cannot serve you to advantage. I there- 
fore beg, for your sakes, and for the sake of the publick, that you 
would indulge me with the liberty of declining the arduous trust." ^ 

Christopher Gadsden having declined, John Mathews, 
the member of Congress whose prompt and vigorous 
action had thwarted the intrigue of the French ambas- 
sador, by which the Carolinas and Georgia came near being 
sacrificed for the independency of the other ten .States, 
and who had since been rendering Washington signal ser- 
vice as a member of the committee of Congress at his 
headquarters, was next elected governor and accepted the 
otRce. Richard Hutson, one of the exiles, was elected 
lieutenant-governor. The privy councillors chosen were 
Christopher Gadsden, Edward Rutledge, Peter Bocquet, 
Morton Wilkinson, Richard Beresford, Samuel Smith, 
Benjamin Guerard, and John Lloyd. Delegates to Con- 
gress, John Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, John Lewis 
Gervais, Ralph Izard, and David Ramsay. Commissioners 
of the Treasury, William Parker and Edward Blake.^ 

The first act passed by the legislature was one repealing 
the laws which had made paper currency or bills of credit 
a legal tender in payment of debts.^ Accompanying this was 
one suspending the operation of the statute of limitations of 
actions until the 1st of February, 1783 ; * and another pro- 

1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 349. 

2 MS. diary of Josiah Smith, Jr. ; The Boyal Gazette. 
8 Statutes at Large, vol. IV, 608. 

4 Ibid., 509. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 573 

hibiting the commencement of suit for any debt until ten 
days after the meeting of the next General Assembly .^ "An 
act for settling the qualifications of the electors and elected 
in the next General Assembly" followed, by which Governor 
Rutledge's proclamation of the 7th of September and 17th 
of November was recited and adopted, and their provisions 
extended to the next election .^ An act of considerable im- 
portance, the repeal of which, the next year, was the subject 
of an unfortunate interference by General Green, was one 
vesting in the Congress of the United States power to levy 
duties of five per cent ad valorem, on certain goods and mer- 
chandise imported into the State, and on prizes and prize 
goods condemned in court of admiralty.^ And an act was 
passed for furnishing supplies to the army to the value of 
373,598 Mexican dollars, being the quota assigned to this 
State of the Continental estimates for the year 1782.* " An 
act to procure recruits and prevent desertion" provided that 
every able-bodied recruit of the proper age, who should 
enlist in the Continental service for three years, or during 
the war, should receive for each and every year's service 
the bounty of one sound negro between the age of ten and 
forty years, to be delivered one at the time of his enlist- 
ment, another at the time of the second year's service, and 
the third at the expiration of the third year's service. It 
was provided that, if any such recruit should die, be killed, 
or maimed after the commencement of the third year, he 
or his heirs should, nevertheless, be entitled to receive the 
same bounty as if he had served out the third year. If he 
deserted, the bounty was to be forfeitedto the use of the State. 
A bounty of a negro between the ages above mentioned was 
also offered to any person who should procure twenty- 
five recruits within two months after the passing of the 

1 Statutes at Large, vol. IV, 513. » Ibid., 512. 

^ Ibid., blO. * Ibid., 525. 



574 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

act ; a like gratuity was offered to any person who should 
procure thirty-five recruits to enlist within three months.^ 

Following Governor Rutledge's recommendation, Thomas 
Ferguson, Morton Wilkinson, and John Ward were ap- 
pointed commissioners for purchasing an estate to the 
value of 10,000 guineas in trust for the Honorable 
Major-General Nathanael Greene, and the faith of the 
State was pledged for the fulfilling of any contract which 
should be made by the commissioners for the payment of 
the purchase money .^ It may well be doubted if the legis- 
lature would have been so prompt in awarding this gratu- 
ity had it been known at the time that the return of 
General Greene to South Carolina had not been of his own 
suggestion, and that he had unwillingly remained in the 
State after coming; that, on the contrary, he had been 
about to abandon it again after the battle of Hobkirk's 
Hill, and had only been prevented from doing so by Lee's 
remonstrance, and Lord Rawdon's abandonment of Camden 
in consequence of the breaking u]3 of his communications 
by Sumter, Marion, and Lee, movements which he had 
scarcely sanctioned. Lee's story had not then been told. 
Nor were Sumter and his heroic followers, the Hamptons, 
Taylors, Lacey, Hill, and Winn, nor Marion with the Horrys, 
Postells, McCottry, James, and the Vanderhorsts, all with 
seats in that body, aware that he had sneered at and belittled 
their services, declaring to Governor Reed of Pennsylvania 
that they and their gallant and patriotic bands had been 
serving more from a desire of plunder than from any in- 
clination to promote the independence of the United States. 
Had all this been known at the time, it is not probable that 
an acre of land or a dollar of money would have been voted 
him. At the time of Rutledge's recommendation for his re- 
muneration, the governor believed that it was Greene's mili- 

1 Statutes at Large, vol. IV, 513, 515. 2 j^i^^^ 515, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 675 

tary genius which had conceived the bold policy of leaving 
Cornwallis in North Carolina and moving upon Lord Raw- 
don in this State. It was to his patient constancy to this 
plan that was attributed the redemption of the State. He 
was held up by his friends and admirers in extravagant lan- 
guage as second only to Washington ; in almost blasphe- 
mous language he was styled " deputy Saviour." ^ And all 
this, Sumter and Marion, sitting as senators, were too high- 
minded to challenge, when by doing so they would bring 
in their own services in competition with his. Georgia and 
North Carolina, not to be outdone in expressions of grati- 
tude, voted to Greene, also, the former 5000 guineas, and 
the latter 2400 acres of land. But the general's enjoyment 
of these extraordinary marks of favor was not without alloy. 
The effusions of congratulations were closely followed by 
bitter complaints at the neglect and unjustice that others 
than the generals had sustained. Nor was it long after these 
grants were made before reports were in circulation as 
injurious as those which had once before assailed his moral 
character whilst in the quartermaster-general's department. 
It was said that he had intrigued with the legislature to ob- 
tain these grants, and that he had combined with a mercan- 
tile house, under the firm name of Hunter, Banks & Co., to 
participate in a contract for the supply of the troops and 
even to practise upon the necessities of his companions in 
arms.2 It is very probable that his advice that the legisla- 
ture should assemble at some place under the immediate pro- 
tection of the army gave color, if not rise, to the suspicion 
of intrigue with the body as to the grant ; but, as it has been 
well observed, the character of the Assembly was in itself 
a sufficient answer to such a charge. The shadow of the 

1 " The Battle of Eutaw" (General J. Watts de Peyster), The United 
Service Magazine^ September, 1881. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 285, 286. 



576 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

latter accusation hung over liim for the remainder of his 
life, though it is not probable that he was guilty of more 
than indiscretion in regard to that transaction. 

The legislature next proceeded to the most serious part 
of its business : the confiscation of the property of avowed 
Tories, and the amercement of those who had withdrawn 
themselves from the contest and accepted protection from his 
Majesty's forces. The justification of these measures was 
set out in a carefully prepared statement, by way of recital, 
to the first of these acts. It is here given in full as the pre- 
sentation of the views of those who enacted the law — a law 
which was received with only less indignation by many of the 
truest Whigs than by the Tories who suffered under it: — 

"Whereas, the thirteen British colonies (now the United States of 
America) were by an act of the Parliament of Great Britain, passed in 
or about the mouth of December, in the year of our Lord 1775, declared 
to be in rebellion, and out of the protection of the British Crown ; and 
by the said act not only the property of the colonists was declared 
subject to seizure and condemnation, but divers seizures and destruc- 
tion of their property having been made after the 19th day of April 
1775, and before the passing of the said act, such seizure and destruc- 
tion were, by the said act, declared to be lawful ; and whereas, the good 
people of these States, having not only suffered great losses and dam- 
ages by captures of their property on the sea, by the subjects of his 
Britannic Majesty, but by their seizing and carrying off much property 
taken on the land; in consequence of such i>roceedings of the British 
Crown, and those acting under its authority, the honorable Congress of 
the United States, after due and mature consideration, authorized the 
seizing and condemnation of all propei-ty found on the sea, and belong- 
ing to the subjects of Great Britain, and recommended to the several 
States in which such subjects had property, to confiscate the same for 
public use ; all political connexion between Great Britain and the 
United States having been dissolved by the separation of these States 
from that kingdom and then declaring themselves free and independent 
of her ; in pursuance of which recommendation most (if not all) have 
disposed of such property for the public use ; and whereas, notwith- 
standing the State has forborne even to sequester the profits arising 



IN THE REVOLUTION 677 

from the estates of British subjects, the enemy, in violation of the 
most solemn capitulations and public engagements, by which the 
property of individuals was secured to them, seized upon, sequestered, 
and applied to their own use, not only in several instances the profits 
of the estates, but in other instances the estates themselves, of the good 
citizens of the State, and have committed the most wanton and wil- 
ful v/aste of property, both real and personal, to a very considerable 
amount; and whereas, from a proclamation of Sir Henry Clinton, 
declaring that if any person should appear in arms in order to permit 
the establishment of his Britannic Majesty's government in this country, 
such person should be treated with the utmost severity, and their 
estates be immediately seized in order to be confiscated ; and whereas 
from a letter of Lord Rawdon to Lieutenant-Colonel Rugely declar- 
ing that every militiaman who did not use his utmost endeavors to 
apprehend deserters should be punished in such manner as his lordship 
should think adequate to such offence, by whipping, imprisonment, or 
being sent to serve his Britannic Majesty in the West Indies ; from 
the Earl Cornwallis's letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Cruger, bearing date 
the 18th of August, 1780, declaring that he had given orders that all the 
inhabitants who had submitted, and who had taken part with their 
countrymen in the first action near Camden (although such submis- 
sion was an act of force or necessity) should be punished with the 
greatest rigor, that they should be imprisoned, and their whole prop- 
erty taken from them or destroyed ; and that he had ordered in the 
most positive manner, that every militiaman who had borne arms on 
the part of his Britannic Majesty, and who had afterward joined their 
fellow citizens (although he had been compelled to take up arms 
against them), should be immediately hanged; and ordering Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Cruger to obey these directions in the district which he 
commanded, in the strictest manner ; and from the general tenor of the 
enemy's conduct, in their wilful and wanton waste and destruction of 
property as aforesaid, committing to a cruel imprisonment, and even 
hanging, and otherwise putting to death in cold blood, and an igno- 
minious manner, many good citizens who had surrendered as prisoners 
of war ; it is evident that it was the fixed determination of the enemy, 
notwithstanding their profession to the contrary, to treat this State as 
a conquered country ; and that the inhabitants were to expect the ut- 
most severities, and to hold their lives, liberties, and properties, solely 
at the will of his Britannic Majesty's officers ; and it is therefore incon- 
sistent with public justice and policy, to afford protection any longer 

VOL. IV. — 2p 



578 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to the property of British subjects, and just and reasonable to apply 
the same toward alleviating and lessening the burdens and expenses of 
the war, which must otherwise fall very heavy on the distressed inhabit- 
ants of the State." 

Having thus stated the causes and justification of the 
act, the persons to be affected by its provisions were divided 
into six classes, upon lists as follows : — 

List No. 1 contained the names (1) of those known to 
be subjects of his Britannic Majesty, and (2) of those who 
went over to and took up arms with the enemy, and failed to 
come in and surrender themselves as required by procla- 
mation of the governor in pursuance of an ordinance of 
the General Assembly of the 20th of February, 1779. 

List No. 2 was of those who, upon the surrender of 
Charlestown, had congratulated Sir Henry Clinton and 
Admiral Arbuthnot on its reduction. 

List No. 3 was of those who had voluntarily embodied 
and served in the Royal militia. 

List No. 4 was of those who had congratulated the Earl 
Cornwallis on his victory at Camden. 

List No. 5 was of those who then held, or had held, 
commissions under his Britannic Majesty, and were then 
with the enemy. 

List No. 6 was of those who had not only voluntarily 
avowed their allegiance to his Britannic Majesty, but by the 
general tenor of their conduct had manifested their attach- 
ment to the British government, and proved themselves 
inveterate enemies of the State. 

The property, real and personal, of the persons men- 
tioned in the six lists was vested in commissioners appointed 
under the act, who were directed to sell and dispose of the 
same at auction on five years' credit. The act went on 
also to provide that, although the lives as well as the for- 
tunes of the persons mentioned in the lists numbered 2, 3, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 579 

4, and 5 were by law forfeited, yet, in order to avoid, if 
possible, sanguinary measures, and to extend to such per- 
sons such mercy as might be consistent with justice to the 
public, instead of inflicting capital punishment, they were 
declared to be forever banished from the State upon the 
penalty of death without benefit of clergy should they 
return. The commissioners were, however, allowed on 
the credit of the estates directed to be sold, to make such 
provision for the temporary support of such of the families 
of the persons mentioned on the lists numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, 
and 6 as should appear to the commissioners necessary. A 
provision in the act directed that, before the commissioners 
sold any of the slaves belonging to these persons, a sufficient 
number should be set aside for the payment of the bounties 
promised to the recruits for the Continental troops, and 
440 male slaves belonging to such persons, which should be 
fit and proper for the use of the Continental army as pioneers, 
wagon drivers, artificers, and officers' servants were to be 
employed in those several occupations so long as they were 
wanted for the public service. They were likewise to spf-, 
aside such horses, cattle, wagons, and provisions as shcu'd 
be needed for the use of the army. In order, however, to 
raise a sum of money in specie necessary for the service 
of the State, the governor was authorized to sell for ready 
money not exceeding 150 slaves, the slaves to be sold in 
families.-^ 

Such was the famous act. It was followed by another en- 
titled, " An act for amercing certain persons named therein." ^ 
This act thus declared in preamble its purpose : — 

" Whereas, many persons, inhabitants of, and owing allegiance to 
the State (some bearing high and important trusts and commissions), 
have withdrawia themselves from the defence thereof, accepted pro- 
tection from the officers commanding his Britannic Majesty's forces, 

1 Statutes at Large, vol, IV, 516, 522. « Ibid., 623. 



580 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROtilNA 

now carrying on a cruel and destructive war within this State, and are 
either within the lines of the enemy, or have omitted to surrender and en- 
roll themselves and perform the duties to their country pointed out and 
required by the proclamation of his Excellency, the Governor, dated the 
twenty-seventh day of September last past, in utter neglect and con- 
tempt of the executive authority of the said State, and to the evil exam- 
ple of society. And whereas, there are others, who, forgetting all the 
social ties of kindred, the feeling of humanity, and regardless of the duty 
and allegiance they had most solemnly sworn to their country, did 
actually subscribe and pay by themselves or agents, considerable sums 
of money towards mounting and equipping a troop or troops of cavalry, 
or other military force for the service of his Britannic Majesty, to act 
against their fellow citizens, and the independence and freedom of 
this State ; and whereas, it is but just and reasonable that the estates 
of such persons, both real and personal, should be amerced, and that 
a due discrimination should be made." 

The commissioners appointed for carrying into execution 
the Confiscation Act were required within four months 
to make an inventory of the real and personal estates of 
the persons named in the list annexed to the act, and to 
amerce them twelve per cent on the actual value for the 
use of the State. 

The preambles of these acts are given in full, as they de- 
clare the reasons for their passage, assigned by those who 
enacted them. These reasons amounted to nothing more 
than the right and justice of retaliation, which, as against 
willing and avowed British subjects and adherents, was 
certainly justified as a measure of war. But herein lay 
the difficulty of the matter, i.e., to determine definitely and 
justly who were really willing subjects and adherents of 
the Ro3^al cause. Still more so in regard to those who had 
merely taken protection. Both measures were earnestly 
opposed by a minority led by the heroic Christopher Gads- 
den, who, notwithstanding his long imprisonment in the 
castle of St. Augustine, and the immense loss of his prop- 
erty, opposed the confiscation of the estates even of the 



IN THE REVOLUTION 581 

adherents of the British government, and zealously con- 
tended that sound policy required to forget and forgive. ^ 
The Confiscation Bill, he said, "was like an auto dafe^ a 
sort of proceeding used in Portugal against heretics, where 
they are dressed in frocks painted over with figures of 
fiends and devils, to excite a horror against them in the 
multitude." ^ 

It was urged that the act was one of condemnation 
without hearing or trial. No crime was alleged, no article 
of charge given in against any of the persons named, no 
accusation entered on the journals of either House. At 
the time the Assembly was taking his property from the 
citizen, the unhappy man was in Charlestown, struggling 
under the pressure of necessity in getting the common 
necessaries of life, and suffering under British tyranny 
from which the State had not been able to shield him. A 
report or idle story, an old grudge, revenge, or malice, 
supplied the place of legal accusation, of evidence, of judge 
and jury. History had branded with infamy the instances 
in which the Parliament of Great Britain had condemned 
subjects without trial or examination. But condemnation 
without a hearing was not the only objection ; the bill pro- 
posed an ex post facto law. Taking protection from a 
conqueror who was in possession of the country, or signing 
a congratulation was no offence against any law of the 
State. Allegiance and protection were reciprocal. When 
the governor had sought his safety in flight, and all other 
civil officers were either fugitives or prisoners, when there 
was no other organized armed force in the State but that 
of the enemy, the citizen was under necessity of accepting 
protection from the conqueror, nor could all be blamed 
who, under the pressure of their situation, signed papers of 
congratulation or even contributed money to the enemy — 

1 Kamsay's Hist, of So. Ca., vol. n, 464. 2 u Cassius," p. 18. 



582 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

such addresses and contributions were not always as volun- 
tary as they appeared to be. 

Still stronger was the objection to the Amercement Act. 
It was charged that a great majority of the Assembly it- 
self were men who had at some time taken protection, 
but who, from circumstances, had been enabled to accept 
of the terms of Governor Rutledge's proclamation. Were 
others, who had not been so fortunately circumstanced, 
now to be punished by amercement? In all countries 
overrun by an invading and victorious army, it was said, 
nothing was more common than to raise what is called 
contributions for the support of it, and in cities and civil- 
ized places, to make the matter easy to the people, or from 
an affectation of politeness which soldiers of fortune some- 
times put on, with the bayonet at your breast, the thing 
is generally done by subscription ; and we afford the first 
example of such contribution being charged as a crime. 
Those in Charlestown who subscribed for the British cav- 
alry were some of them volunteers for raising a force 
against us ; but this was not the case with all of them, it 
was believed. The citizen was under the yoke of a tyrant 
who had a thousand ways of doing him mischief. To such 
people the subscribing to British cavalry was another name 
for contribution. It was done, perhaps, under the highest 
necessity and compulsion. To make that a crime, there- 
fore, by a retrospective law which was none before, and 
condemn to forfeiture of their property, was ex post facto 
arbitrary and unconstitutional.^ 

Such considerations might possibly have prevailed had 
the reasons put forth in the preambles to the acts been the 
real motives for their enactment. But there can be little 
doubt that revenue and not retaliation was the real induce- 
ment of the measures. General Marion writes to Colonel 
1 "Cassius," p. 44. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 683 

Peter Horry on the 10th of February : " Two regiments 
are to be raised as our Continental quota, giving each man 
a negro per year, which is to be taken from the confiscated 
estates. A number of large estates are down on the list 
and others are amerced, which will give in at least a mill- 
ion sterling as a fund." ^ Marion himself was known to 
have been opposed during the whole war to all acts of 
cruelty to and vengeance upon the Tories, and constantly 
to have borne in mind and urged upon his followers that, 
however the war might end, Whigs and Tories must be 
fellow-countrymen, and that it was policy as well as duty 
to forbear from all unnecessary acts of severity which 
might in the future impede a reconciliation of fellow-citi- 
zens and brethren. Indeed, he is said, but on doubtful 
authority, to have given as a toast at a large party at Gov- 
ernor Mathews's table just after its passage, " Here is 
damnation to the confiscation act.''^^ Johnson states that 
the most efficacious reason for adopting the measure was 
that the State was wholly destitute of funds, and the 
Whig population so stripped and impoverished as to put 
it out of the power of government to raise any immediate 
resources, either by loan or taxation ; and that the estates 
of the Loyalists were therefore seized upon as a means of 
establishing a capital to build a present credit upon.^ 

It is very doubtful, however, whether the result as a finan- 
cial measure justified an act otherwise so impolitic. It was 
charged, as must have been expected, that great injustice 
and partiality were indulged in the details of the act. That 
the members of this popular Assembly, acting in different 
characters of legislators and judges, in proceeding to confis- 
cation and banishment, put in enemies and kept out friends, 

1 James's Life of Marion, 174. 

2 Weems's Life of Marion, 291. 

8 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 283. 



584 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAEOLINA 

and gave loose rein to malice, avarice, and revenge. Indeed, 
it was alleged that in many instances this was carried to 
extraordinary lengths. An instance was cited of a well- 
known gentleman, member of the Assembly itself, who 
would have been banished and his estate forfeited had not 
some friend secreted the slip of paper on which his name 
was inserted. ^ 

In the lists appended to these acts as published in the 
Statutes^ there appear the names of 239 persons whose 
estates were confiscated and of 47 whose estates were 
amerced. But upon an examination of these lists, and com- 
paring them with the lists of the 210 who did sign the 
address of congratulation to the British commanders, 
" the addressors," as they were called, all of whose estates 
were confiscated by the act, it is manifest the published lists 
as appended to the statute are not correct. List No. 2, 
purporting to contain the names of " the addressors," con- 
tains but 43 names out of the 210. This discrepancy may, 
it is true, be accounted for, in a measure, by the fact that 
not all of the addressors were possessed of estates to be 
confiscated. But that this consideration does not entirely 
account for the difference appears from the fact that in the 
list appended to the act of 1784 for restoring to the per- 
sons therein mentioned their estates,'^ the names of several 
" addressors " appear whose names are not appended to the 
Confiscation Act itself. So, too, the same observation applies 
to other lists ; names appear upon the restoration lists which 
do not appear upon the original confiscation lists. 

The lists appended to the acts are remarkable for the 
names that do not appear upon them. This is par- 
ticularly the case with List No. 1 to the Confiscation Act, 

i"Cassius," p. 39. 

2 Statutes at Large, vol. VI, 629-635. 

8 Statutes at Large, vol. IV, 624 ; vol. VI, 634. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 685 

which purports to contain the names of the known sub- 
jects of his Britannic Majesty. Conspicuous from its 
absence is that of William Bull, whose unshaken fidelity 
to his king was so open and avowed. Still honored and 
loved, however, by all, it was perhaps impolitic, if not 
impossible, to have placed his name upon the list, especially 
after his generous and spirited appeal for the life of 
Hayne. But there were others, the absence of which is 
not easily explained. We do not find the name of Thomas 
Skottowe,^ the member of Council who had refused to 
appear before the General Committee in 1775, and had 
been consequently banished, but had returned during the 
British rule ; nor of James Simpson, the attorney -general, 
who had been banished with Skottowe and likewise re- 
turned, and had occupied the position of intendant of 
police under the British military government ; nor of 
Colonel Innis, who had raised a regiment which he had 
conspicuously commanded against the Americans ; nor 
of Colonel Probart Howarth, governor of Fort Johnson, 
nor of George Roupell, the postmaster, — the last three of 
whom had, like Skottowe and Simpson, been banished 
in 1775. 

But even still more remarkable is the fact that, 
though the legislature was composed largely of Low- 
Country men, out of the 239 persons whose estates 
were confiscated, but 10 were of the Up-Country. These 
were Andrew and John Cuningham and Colonel Clary 
of Ninety Six, Captain Anderson of Thicketty Creek, 
William Guest of Tyger River, William Stevens of 
Saluda, George Grierson of Waxhaws, Julin George of 
New Acquisition (York), and William Valentine of Cam- 

1 That Samuel Skottowe had adhered to the American cause and had 
endured confinement on prison ship may possibly have saved the estate 
of his relative. 



586 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

den. In the district of Ninety Six and in that between 
the Saluda and Broad, the Tories far outnumbered the 
Whigs, and many had borne militia commissions in the 
British service. How was it that the fine estate of 
Colonel Fletchall at Fair Forest, with its famous mill, was 
not confiscated, while both those of Elias Ball (of Wam- 
baw) and Elias Ball (of Comingtee) were taken ? Why 
is it that with Colonel Clary we do not find the names 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Philips, Lieutenant-Colonel W. T. 
Turner, and Majors Daniel Plummer, Zachariah Gibbs, and 
John Hamilton, who with him bore British militia commis- 
sions. Surely some of these must have possessed estates 
equal in value to those of William Cameron the cooper, 
James Duncan the blacksmith, John Fisher the cabinet- 
maker, and John Ward the tailor, whose estates in 
Charlestown were confiscated.^ 

The list appended to the Amercement Act strongly 
corroborates the charge of partiality in its application. 
On September 19, 1780, the British authorities published 
a list of 168 persons who had petitioned for protection, 
and who were notified to appear before the intendant 
of police to subscribe the declaration of allegiance, 
and to receive their certificates.^ A similar notice 
appears in The Royal Grazette of the 11th of July, 1781, 
to which is appended the names of 213 more. There 
were thus 381 persons publicly announced as having 
accepted protection. The Amercement Act, which by 
its terms was to apply not only to those who had ac- 

1 It is a remarkable fact that as the triumphant Whigs, upon the re- 
covery of the government of the State in 1782, confiscating the estates of 
the Loyalists, restricted their doing so to those of the Loyalists on the 
coast, so upon their overthrow of the Confederacy in 1865 the Federal 
government likewise restricted its practical confiscation to those of 
Confederates in the same region. 

2 So. Ca. and Am. Gen. Gazette. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 587 

cepted protection, but to those also who had subscribed 
to the equipping of a troop of cavalry for the British 
service, punished only 47 of the 381. The same ob- 
servation as that just made in regard to the Confisca- 
tion Act doubtless would account in some measure at 
least for this discrepancy, namely, that those who had 
no estates were not amerced. But this does not fully 
explain the great difference. The preamble of the act 
recites as an aggravation in some instances of the accept- 
ing of protection, that the person who did so had borne 
high and important trusts or commissions under the State, 
but in the list under the act the only persons named 
who could come under this description were Colonel 
Daniel Horry, who had commanded the regiment of 
dragoons raised in 1779, Colonel Maurice Simons, who 
had commanded the militia in Charlestown during the 
siege. Colonels John Harleston and Joseph Jenkins, also 
of the militia, and Colonel Charles Pinckney, member of 
the Council who had gone out with Governor Rutledge 
from the town before its fall. On the other hand, we do 
not find in the list of those amerced the names of Henry 
Middleton and Rawlins Lowndes, who gave up the con- 
test and took protection when Charlestown fell, nor of 
Daniel Huger, who, like Charles Pinckney, having gone 
out with Governor Rutledge as a member of the Council, 
returned and submitted to the enemy. The case of 
Colonel Charles Pinckney was a hard one, for he had all 
along, from the beginning in 1775, been hurried on faster 
and farther than he had been disposed to go in the re- 
bellion, as was particularly shown in his correspondence 
with General Moultrie in 1779. He did not, however, long 
survive the mortification. Pie died in the September 
following.^ 

1 The Boyal Gazette, September 28, 1782. 



588 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The protest of " Cassius " produced good fruit. In 1783 
— the year after — the provisions of the Confiscation Act 
were so modified that seventy-seven persons who had been 
banislied by it were allowed to return upon certain condi- 
tions, and the sale of their estates was suspended.^ The 
next year another act was passed by which the estates of 
sixty-two were taken off the confiscation list and amerced ; 
thirty more were entirely released, and the persons whose 
estates had been sold were indemnified. The names of 
thirty-three others were also taken off the confiscation list 
and amerced, but were disqualified from holding any office 
or trust for a term of seven years.^ From this time forth 
almost every legislature restored some part of the confis- 
cated property to the different former owners or their 
descendants, and their return to the country was wel- 
comed.^ As measures of revenue for which these acts 
were passed they accomplished nothing to compensate for 
the ill feeling they aroused. 

The legislature, having adopted these measures, ad- 
journed on the 26th of February, 1782. 

1 Statutes at Large, vol. TV, 553. 

2/6iV?., 624. 

^Ibid., G39-66G, 687, 699-721 ; Curwiu's Journal and Letters, 670. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

1782 

The beginning of the year 1781 found, the British 
forces upon the northern confines of the State preparing 
to advance into Nortli Carolina and Virginia, regarding 
this State as ah-eady subjugated. The beginning of the 
year 1782 found the conquerors driven back, and confined 
to Charlestown Neck and James Island. 

Soon after General Greene had taken post at Round O, 
General Leslie, who was now in command in Charlestown, 
began to feel seriously the effects of the restriction of his 
foraging ground. The driving in of his detachments and 
the crowding of refugees within his restricted lines caused 
an accumulation of horses for which he was unable to 
procure forage. His necessities on this account compelled 
him to put two hundred of these useful animals to death. 
To relieve this distress, strong parties were kept on the 
alert, watching for opportunities of collecting provisions 
from the surrounding country. As starting points for these 
raiders, posts were established on the extreme tongues 
of land at Haddrell's Point and Hobcaw in Christ Church 
Parish and Daniel's Island in St. Thomas's opposite the 
city, from which retreat was difficult to an attacking 
enemy, and to which reenforcements could easily be con- 
veyed by water. These points, now the last held by the 
British, it will be observed, were just those the last held 
by the Americans during the siege of the city in 1780 — 

589 



590 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the positions of the parties being exactly reversed. To 
cover the communication with these posts, galleys lay in 
the rivers at convenient distances. During the winter 
several brilliant and successful sallies were made from 
these positions. The first of these was by Major Coffin, 
the hero of Eutaw, and the captor of Armstrong. 

On the American side a post was established at Cainhoy, 
at the head of navigation of Wando River, about twelve 
miles from Charlestown, which was now under the com- 
mand of Colonel Richard Richardson. A British galley 
lay in the Wando, which was an object of observation to 
Colonel Richardson, who patrolled the road from Cainhoy 
on the St. Thomas side of the river to Daniel's Island, the 
northern point formed by the junction of the Wando and 
Cooper rivers. On the 2d of January Major Coffin with a 
detachment of about 350 men, cavalry and infantry, were 
transported from Charlestown by water to Daniel's Island.^ 
Colonel Richardson, learning of this movement from his pa- 
trols, immediately pushed his scouts to the causeway over 
Beresford Creek, which, with the Wando and Cooper, forms 
Daniel's Island, and wrote to Marion for reenforcements. 
Marion's force scarcely equalled that of the enemy, but 
he resolved to advance for the purpose of attacking them. 
To detain them while he should come up with his main 
body, he ordered Colonel Richardson and a part of 
Maham's newly raised horse to throw themselves in front 
of the enemy and engage them until he reached them. 
Maham did not himself come with his cavalry ; they were 
under the command of Major Giles. 

The British advanced, taking the Strawberry road, and, 
crossing Beresford Creek, aboutnoon reached Brabant, a plan- 
tation belonging to the Rev. Robert Smith, about fourteen 
miles distant. To the north of this plantation was a swamp 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 303 ; James's Life of Marion, 158, 
159. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 591 

of considerable width with a causeway and a bridge known 
as Videau's. Beyond the causewa}^, on the east, was a 
fence on a bank with a ditch behind it. Richardson passed 
the swamp, and, going down to the bank to reconnoitre, 
came back with a British troop and Captain Campbell at 
his heels. Upon reaching his command, Richardson at 
once ordered a charge. From the outset it was easy to 
see that Maham's new corps had not yet been trained. 
They charged in disorder, but at first drove the British 
cavalry before them. At the bridge they met the British 
infantry, who gave them a volley. All was at once in con- 
fusion, horses and men wedged together upon a narrow 
causeway, the front striving to retreat and the rear push- 
ing them on. The British cavalry now came in aid of the 
infantry, and a total rout of the Americans and scene of 
carnage ensued. Captain Samuel Cooper, one of Maham's 
officers, rallied his men, and, returning to the road, saved 
several lives and drove back a part of the British cavalry. 
Maham's men suffered particularly; being on the road when 
the rout commenced, they were trampled down by both 
parties. Among the creditable feats of the day was that of 
Captain Bennett, who with twelve men having been pur- 
sued by a party of the enemy double their number, and 
stopped by an impassable creek, turned upon his pursuers 
and drove them back. Another was that of G. Sinclair 
Capers, who took three swords from the British in single 
encounters, for which General Marion promoted him to a 
lieutenancy. Had Richardson posted his militia behind the 
fence, his defeat might have been prevented. The Ameri- 
cans admitted that twenty-two of their men were buried on 
the causeway; how many were killed in the pursuit was 
not known. The Royal Gazette of the 5th of January esti- 
mated the loss of the Americans at fifty-seven killed and 
twenty taken prisoners. That of the 9th of January rep- 



692 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

resented the loss of the rebels in killed, disabled, and 
prisoners as upwards of ninety, a large proportion of whom, 
it stated, were those who had reverted to the American 
cause contrary to their most solemn engagements as 
British subjects. The British loss was but one officer 
killed and a dragoon wounded. The officer killed was 
Captain Campbell, known as "Mad Archy," he who had 
captured Colonel Hayne in the July before.^ The defeat 

1 Dr, Johnson, in his Traditions of the Bevolution, p. 67, mentions this 
officer among the numerous British officers in America of the name of 
Campbell, and relates the following story of him : — 

" Of Mad Archy, or Mad Campbell, we know nothing, except while the 
British occupied Charleston ; we believe that this appellation was given 
him by his brother officers. An instance of Campbell's violence of temper 
was told to a lady still living (1851) by the Rev. Edward Ellington, rector 
of St. James's, Goose Creek. Captain Campbell once drove up to his house 
accompanied by a young lady, who appeared agitated or alarmed ; he 
called for the reverend gentleman to come out to him and asked to be mar- 
ried to this lady. ' Yes,' was the answer, ' with her consent and that of her 
friends.' Campbell then drew his pistols and swore that he should marry 
them or be put to death immediately. Such was the character and deport- 
ment of Campbell that the minister did not dare to refuse ; he married 
them, and it proved to be a case of abduction. The lady was Paulina 
Phelp, of one of the most respectable families in the State. She told her 
friends that when Campbell was particular in his attentions, and flattered 
her, she had considered it nothing more than what all the British officers 
were in the habit of saying and doing, and supposed that Captain Campbell 
meant no more to her. That she had never promised to marry him or in- 
tended to do so, and never consented except when terrified." 

Mrs. Campbell survived her husband but a few days. The Boyal Gazette 
of January 5, 1782, announces the death of Captain Campbell ; that of 
the 12th contains this notice : — 

" Death. — Mrs, Margaret Campbell, widow of Cap' Archibald Campbell 
and daughter of Robert Philp. She died greatly regi'etted by all who had 
the happiness of her acquaintance." 

From the notice it appears that the lady's name was Margaret Philp, 
not Paulina Phelp. Robert Philp, her father, was one of the addressers 
of Sir Henry Clinton. 

The novelist, W. Gilmore Simms, incorporates this story in his historical 
novel, Katherine Walton. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 593 

of Richardson left Marion too weak to hazard an attack, 
and the enemy were content with what they had accom- 
plished without attempting to force him to it. Marion 
retired to Wambaw. The British marched up to Quinby 
Bridge, and, having gathered some stock, retired across 
Wappetaw to Haddrell's Point. ^ 

A stronger vindication of the correctness of the opinion 
that it was necessary for the State to provide means of 
defending itself, observes Johnson, could not have been 
desired than was furnished when it was thought necessary 
to appeal to other quarters for protection and defence, 
a strong practical illustration of which were the circum- 
stances attending the advance of the reenforcements under 
General St. Clair. Ever since the month of March, 1781, 
this officer, with the mutinous Pennsylvania line, had been 
under orders to reenforce the Southern army. He had first 
been halted on his march to aid in the defence of Virginia ; 
and when again set in motion for his place of destination, 
he consumed more than two months in marching from York- 
town to Greene's headquarters in South Carolina. Nor 
was he chargeable with any unnecessary delay ; on the con- 
trary, he was said to have proceeded too rapidly, and so 
much was his strength impaired when he reached the 
Round O, that his force but little exceeded one-half of 
the number that crossed the Potomac. It was not until 
the 4th of January, the day after this affair at Videau's 
Bridge, that St. Clair formed a junction with Greene. The 
general had four days before dismissed the Virginia line 
with his warmest acknowledgments for their active and 
patient services. Only about sixty from that State now 
remained, and they had but one month longer to serve. 

Five days after the arrival of General St. Clair, General 

1 James's Life of Marion, 159 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 303. 

VOL. IV. — 2q 



594 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Wayne was detached with the Third Regiment of Dra- 
goons under Colonel White, who had rejoined the army,^ 
and a detachment of artillery, to place himself at the head 
of the forces then in arms in Georgia. Orders, it will be 
remembered, had been some time before issued to General 
Sumter to detach Colonel Hampton's cavalry to the support 
of General Twiggs in that State, and that corps was also 
placed at the disposal of General Waj^ne. In addition to 
the forces under Wayne's immediate command. General 
Barnwell, who at this time commanded in that part of 
South Carolina which lay along the lower part of Savannah 
River, received instructions to cooperate with General 
Wayne and render him all the aid in his power.^ 

The General Assembly, as has been seen, met on the 
18th of January and sat until the 26th of February. Dur- 
ing its sitting the demon of discord again seems to have 
possessed the American forces. Soon after it met, Sumter, 
resenting his treatment, resigned; and Lee, who had done 
so much to create an enmity between Greene and Sumter, 
himself taking offence at Laurens's command, by reason of 
his superior rank, early in February, retired in disgust 
from the field.^ It was at this time that the opposition to 
General Barnwell's command, and discontent at his appoint- 
ment to the prejudice of the superior rank, and, as it was 
alleged, the superior claims of Colonel Harden, ran so high 
that he also resigned his commission.^ But still more 

1 Colonel Anthony Walton White, the officer who, it will be remem- 
bered, had been routed by Tarleton on the Santee in May, 1780. Hist, of 
So. Ca. in the lievolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 493-494. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 276, 277. 

8 Ibid., 328. In his Memoirs of the War of 1776 Colonel Lee declares 
that he retired because of ill health, but his own account of the matter 
leaves little doubt that the reason assigned by Judge Johnson was the con- 
trolling one. 

* Ibid., 294:. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 595 

serious at this time were the dissensions in Marion's bri- 
gade, which brought it nearly to ruin, and laid open the 
country to the enemy's ravages. 

With the consent of Governor Rutledge and General 
Greene, Colonel Maham Avas engaged in the attempt to 
raise a legion for the Continental service upon the same 
basis as that of Colonel Lee, and had at least partially suc- 
ceeded and was in command of the troops he had raised. 
General Marion, Colonel Peter Horry, and Colonel Maham 
were all members of the General Assembly. The importance 
attached to the meeting of this body rendered Marion's 
attendance at Jacksonborough necessary. His command 
then lay at Strawberry; but, fearing that some disaster 
might happen during his absence, he had moved them back 
near the banks of the Santee, to be out of the reach of any 
sudden movement of the enemy. When leaving he turned 
over the command of his brigade to Colonel Peter Horry, 
as the senior officer, giving him directions to be pursued 
during his absence. In pursuance of these orders Colonel 
Horry retired to the north side of the Wambaw, a large 
creek emptying into tlie Santee. Colonel Maham's corps 
was ordered by Marion to be posted at Mepkin plantation, 
on the western branch of the Cooper River. As the enemy 
got most of their intelligence from persons, more especially 
women, going to and from town, Marion particularly 
ordered that guards should be kept to prevent any boats 
from passing without a written permission from himself or 
Horry. 

It appears from the correspondence that Maham had 
already raised the question of Horry's right to command 
him, claiming that as the commander of a legionary corps, 
as that of Colonel Lee, he was under the immediate com- 
mand of the general'in-chief, and that Marion, upon his 
arrival at Jacksonborough, had at once submitted his claim 



690 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to General Greene, for on the 16th of January Greene 
wrote to Marion : — ^ 

" I cannot imagine vipon what principles Lt. Col. Maham presumes 
to dispute rank with Lt. Col. Horry; the latter has been a Lieut. 
Colonel in the Continental service and still claims his rank in that 
line, but supposing his claim not to be well founded, he is out of ser- 
vice not of choice but of necessity and is a supernumerary officer on 
half pay and therefore his claim to rank must be good whenever 
called into service. . . • On this ground I think Col. Horry has 
clearly the right of outranlving Col. Maham. Much is due to the 
merits and exertion of Col. Maham, but no less is due to the rights 
and claims of Lieut. Col. Horry. It was never my intention that 
Lieut. Col. Maham's corps should be subject to no order but my own, 
[but] in the first instance this would be totally incompatible with 
the nature of the service. My intention with respect to that corps 
was that it should stand upon the same footing as Lieut. Col. Lee's 
Legion which is called an independent corps ; nobody has a right to 
command them but the commander in chief unless by him placed 
under some other command. Lee's Legion is frequently put under a 
particular officer's command according to the nature of the service ^ 
and to be otherwise would be burdening the public with a useless 
expense, for many things which are practicable with a combined force 
could not be attempted without it. I am persuaded when Col. Maham 
thinks more fully upon the subject he must be convinced his idea 
of the constitution and nature of his corps is totally inadmissible," 
etc. 2 

Upon receipt of this letter of General Greene, Marion 
at once wrote to Colonel Horry on the 18th : " I send you 
General Greene's letter in answer to mine sent him as 
soon as I arrived here, and it is determined as I expected. 
You will keep the letter, and if the enemy should ap- 
proach your quarters and you find it necessary, you must 
call on Colonel Maham's troops and horse as a reenforce- 

1 This statement of General Greene is a conclusive answer to Lee's claim 
of independent command when serving under Sumter, Marion, or Pickens. 
See ante, 176-177, 32.3-324. 

2Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 229-230. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 597 

merit." 1 He cautioned Horry not to call on Maliam for 
any other purpose. 

Unfortunately Greene and Marion appear not to have 
been explicit to him upon this subject, though both wrote 
to Maliam at this time. On the 19th Horry wrote to 
him : " I received letters of Generals Greene and Marion 
yesterday. The former terminates our rank in my opinion 
{sic} and the latter writes me to take command of your 
Legion if I find it necessary ; the generals also wrote you, 
and I suppose to the same purpose. Please make a return 
of the strength of your Legion that I may know what sup- 
port I can have in case of need. I have an officer and six 
men at Wadboo ; as 'tis beyond your post, I wish you to 
relieve him from your cavalry." ^ 

To this Maham replied that he also had received 
letters from Greene and Marion, that neither of them had 
svritten to him to give up his rank, and added, "As I 
jannot think of being commanded by an officer of the 
5ame rank, I think it proper not to make you a return 
)f my regiment, and shall not obey any orders that you 
nay be pleased to send." 3 Horry informed Marion of Ma- 
lam's conduct, and Marion wrote on the 23d, promising to 
lee General Greene and endeavor to settle the dispute.* 
Maham also requested and obtained a hearing from General 
jrreene, refusing to submit until he received a personal an- 
.wer. This General Greene gave in substantially the same 
erms as in his letter to Marion of the 16th, concluding 
vith an appeal to Maham for the public service : "You have 
xerted yourself with an enthusiasm in raising your corps ; 
md I have only to recommend that you let the public 
jood and your private wishes walk hand in hand, and 
.hen I am persuaded you will not wish a single indulgence 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 231. ^Ibid, 238. 
2/6/^,238. ilhid.,2i0. 



698 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

incompatible with the principle I have laid down." Ma- 
ham appears also to have complained of the hard service 
to which his corps had been subjected; and upon this 
Greene observes : — 

" With regard to General Marion's having made too free use of 
your cavalry, you are to consider how extensive the country is he has 
to guard and how much he depends upon your corps. This will ac- 
count for the hard service you have been put to. The general is a 
good man, and when you consider his difficulties and make just 
allowances perhaps you will have little to complain of but the hard 
necessity of the service. Our force is small and our duty extensive. 
Let me entreat you to think properly on these matters and to en- 
deavor to accommodate yourself to the circumstances of our aifairs, 
and I will again endeavor to impress the general with the necessity 
of giving you as much repose as possible. General Marion has been 
very useful and is very necessary ; and your corps can nowhere be as 
usefully employed as where you are." ^ 

Notwithstanding this appeal, Maham remained obdurate, 
and on the 28th Greene writes to Marion : — 

" I will also write to Col. Maham decidedly upon the dispute re- 
specting his rank. I am sorry the colonel carries the matter to so 
disagreeable a length. Rank is not what constitutes the good officer, 
but good conduct. Substantial services give reputation, not captious 
disputes. A captain may be more respectable than a general. Rank 
is nothing unless accompanied with worthy actions."* 

Contenting himself with such sententious platitudes to 
Marion, instead of peremptory orders to Maham, General 
Greene allowed the most important and vulnerable section 
of the country to be exposed with no other protection 
than that afforded by Horry, whose commands Maham 
refused to obey. Maham's value as a cavalry officer was 

doubtless too well established not to excite regret at the 

I 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 305, 306. 
2Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 244. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 599 

probable loss of his services, which he intimated would be 
the result of his forced submission. ^ But this fear should 
not have prevailed over the necessity of providing for con- 
certed action in case of a movement of the enemy to the 
northward of Charlestown. Unfortunately Governor Rut- 
ledge joined in the discussion, and wrote, it is said, a 
philippic against Horry.^ 

So matters continued. Marion had especially charged 
Horry to prohibit and prevent communication with the 
town except by his own order or that of Horry himself. 
This Maham openly and flagrantly violated. " Colonel 
Maham interferes with my command," writes Horry to 
Marion on the 31st of January. " So much that I can 
scarcely act; he gave passes to several ladies to go to 
town without my leave, and they accordingly went in a 
boat, which has since returned, and the ladies have since 
come up."^ Upon this General Greene writes on the 1st 
of February, to Horry : — 

" I have written decidedly to Lieut. Col. Maham upon the dispute 
subsisting between you and him upon the subject of rank and told 
him you had an unquestionable right to outrank him. I have only 
to observe upon this subject that great delicacy on your part should 
be exercised on this occasion, nothing like triumph as that will 
wound his feelings; blinded by matters of interest and love of rank 
he will yield to conviction unwillingly and finding himself in this 
situation will feel with double force every unnecessary exercise of 
authority." * 

In this embarrassing position, with an officer in com- 
mand of a considerable part of his force refusing to obey 
his orders, and his superiors evidently afraid to bring 
matters to an issue with his refractory subordinate, 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 305. 

2 James's Life of Marion, 158. 

» Ibid. ; Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 246. 
* Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 247. 



600 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Horry, himself sick, appealed to Marion to return and 
relieve him of the responsibility. Marion replies on the 
3d of February that he had written positive orders to 
Maham not to interfere with him, and had been in hopes 
that General Greene would have prevented such evils 
before that, but that his presence was absolutely necessary 
in the legislature for a few days, until the militia act and 
that raising the Continental quota of troops was passed. 
There was also the confiscation and sequestration bill on 
hand, and until these were passed he could not get leave to 
return. 1 Horry continued to urge Marion's return, and 
on the lOtli (Sunday) Marion writes: — 

" Youvs of the 7th came to hand. I asked leave of the House to 
return but they would not grant it ; there are three laws now on the 
carpet which they insist I should stay until finished. If 1 leave the 
House the business will be over as many will go with me and they 
"will not be able to make a House. Our material business is the three 
laws above hinted at. These reasons oblige me to stay until Wednes- 
day next when I hope I shall set out. If your health is such as to 
require your absence from camp you will leave the command of the 
brigade to Col. Maham," ^ etc. 

General Greene had decided against Maham's preten- 
sions, but in doing so he had given offence to Horry ; so 
on the 14th he writes a long letter of explanation replete 
with moral reflections, urging Horry to take the initiative 
in making friends with Maham, as he was in a superior 
position to do so with dignity.^ On the same day Marion 
writes that he cannot yet return, as his going away will 
break the House and put a stop to business, " but hope we 
shall get through by the beginning of next week," * that 
is, by the 18th or 19th. The Assembly did not, however, 
finish its business until the 26th, and in the meantime the 

1 Gibbes's Documentary Hist. (1781-82), 248. s jn^,^ 251, 252. 

2/&W.,249. * Ibid., 253. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 601 

enemy, doubtless through the women who were allowed to 
go to town against Marion's orders, were fully apprised 
of the disorganized condition of the forces on the Cooper 
River, and prepared to take advantage of them. 

On the British side a new character appeared on the 
field at this late day. The celebrated Count Rumford, 
then Colonel Thompson, a Massachusetts Tory who had 
been in England since the evacuation of Boston by the 
British army, and had, under Lord George Germain, 
reached the high post of Under Secretary of State, and 
in the prosecution of his scientific pursuits had been 
elected Fellow of the Royal Society, had now returned 
to America, and come to South Carolina as a cavalry 
officer burning for an opportunity of distinction. Arriving 
at the opportune moment, a detachment of two hundred 
horse, five hundred infantry, and two pieces of artillery 
was formed, and under his command moved up the 
Cooper River. Early information of this movement had 
been communicated by the numerous and vigilant con- 
fidants in Charlestown ; and Greene, it is said, had re- 
peatedly hinted to Marion the necessity of his return to 
his command. 1 But the State officials were all so bent at 
the time upon the enactment of the unfortunate Confisca- 
tion Act, tliey seemed to have been unable to consider 
other matters, however important. Marion did not leave 
Jacksonborough until the British detachment was actually 
in motion. Then, accompanied by Colonel Maham, who 
had also left his command for his legislative duties, by a cir- 
cuitous route and a very rapid ride, on the 24th of February, 
he reached the ground on which Maham's regiment was 
encamped at Mepkin. Here they were informed that the 
enemy was retiring, and while Maham paid a visit to his 
own plantation, Marion remained to rest and refresh him- 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 306. 



602 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

self before they resumed their journey for the encamp- 
ment of the brigade. In five hours after Maham's depar- 
ture an express arrived with the alarming intelligence that 
the brigade had been surprised and dispersed.^ 

Colonel Horry had by Marion's orders taken a position 
on the north side of Warabaw Creek. His position there 
was in an angle formed by two roads which passed from 
Lenud's Ferry to Elias Horry's plantation, about a quarter 
of a mile from the bridge over the creek. In his rear was 
a wood. His newly raised Continental regiment, scarcely 
yet half completed, lay at Durant's plantation, about a 
mile above, under the immediate command of Major 
Benison. On the 23d of February Horry had out 
patrols upon the Christ Church road, and scouts in St. 
Thomas's Parish. Thinking himself secure, and being 
sick, on the 24th he went over the river to his own planta- 
tion, leaving the brigade under the command of Colonel 
McDonald, contrary, says James in his Life of Marion^ 
to General Marion's order, which was to leave it in such 
case under Maham.^ But this criticism is unjust, for not 
only had Maham separated his command from Horry, but 
Maham himself at the time was with Marion at Jackson- 
borough.^ 

Colonel Thompson's detachment, consisting of the 
cavalry, Cuningham's and Young's troops of mounted 
militia, the Yagers, Volunteers of Ireland, a detachment 
of the Thirtieth Regiment, and one three-pounder, on 
Sunday, the 24th of February, crossed Cooper River to 
Daniel's Island in St. Thomas's, and rapidly advanced to 
attack Horry's position. By the very spirited exertions 
of the troops and by mounting the infantry occasionally 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 307. 

2 James's Life of Marion, 160-161. 

' Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 307. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 603 

on the dragoons' horses, Colonel Thompson was enabled to 
carry on the whole corps thirty-six miles without halting, 
when, falling in with a party of Horry's, an officer and six 
men, none of whom escaped to give intelligence, he 
pressed on with the cavalry and mounted militia, leaving 
the infantry posted at Drake's plantation.^ 

Major Benison was at dinner when Captain Bennett, who 
commanded the scouts in St. Thomas's, came in with the 
intelligence that the British were approaching. Finding 
Benison, it is said, incredulous of the report, and unwilling 
to be disturbed at his meal, Bennett proceeded to head- 
quarters, where he found McDonald also at dinner. 
He likewise refused to believe the intelligence because, 
he said, he had been down into Christ Church the day 
before ; but he desired Major James, who had just arrived 
in camp and came for orders, to take command of his 
regiment. In less than half an hour after firing com- 
menced at Durant's. 

McDonald's regiment was on the right towards Echaw 
Creek, and two regiments of six-months men were on the 
left towards Wambaw. Major James immediately formed 
McDonald's regiment in the wood in the rear, and rode to 
the left for orders from the ranking officer present. Colonel 
Screven ; but Screven's men had already broken and he was 
trying to rally them, but in vain.^ 

Benison, who commanded Horry's regiment of dragoons, 
when the pickets were driven in, crossed Wambaw bridge 
and formed the corps in very good order on rising ground 
one hundred yards beyond. He had scarcely done so 
before the best of the Royal mounted militia, under 
Colonel Doyle, arrived, and formed at once opposite 
Benison's party to give time for the rest to come up. 

1 The Royal Gazette, March 2, 1782. 
" James's Life of Marion, 160, 161. 



604 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Colonel Doyle,^ however, judging from the movements of 
the American officers that Benison was about to attack, 
determined to anticipate the action, and made the signal 
with his whistle for a charge, which was instantly obeyed 
by the men with the greatest gallantry. Benison's men, 
newly raised Continental recruits, fired their pistols, then 
broke in confusion and were pursued with great slaughter, 
Benison himself being killed. The British asserted that 
nothing but the breaking down of Wambaw bridge, when 
the first of their dragoons were crossing, prevented a total 
extinction of Horry's corps.^ 

Benison's fugitives fell back upon Screven's men, who 
likewise gave way. Major James, perceiving the day to be 
lost, returned to his own regiment and ordered a retreat. 
The Americans did not claim to know their loss. The 
British asserted that, including patrols met in the morn- 
ing, forty were killed and four prisoners taken. The 
Americans admitted a loss of thirty-five horses.^ 

It was of this disaster that Marion heard while resting 
at Mepkin. Placing himself at once at the head of 
Maham's regiment, he hurried on across the country 
towards Wambaw, thirty or forty miles away. Arrived 
within five miles of the enemy, he halted at the house of 
Mrs. Tydiman to refresh his men and horses; and the 
latter were unbitted and feeding when the whole of the 
enemy's cavalry made their appearance.* To deceive his 
opponents. Colonel Thompson, after his success on Sunday 
the 24th, had made a parade of driving off the cattle he 

1 Colonel Doyle, it will be remembered, had sailed for England with 
Lord Rawdon on the 21st of August, 1781. The vessel in which they 
sailed was captured by the French. How Colonel Doyle was released 
and returned to South Carolina we do not know. 

2 The Royal Gazette, March 2, 1782. 

^ Ibid. ; James's Life of 3Iarion, 162. 

* Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II., 307 ; James's Life of Marion , 162. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 605 

had collected and sending his infantry in the direction of 
Wappetaw, in Christ Church Parish. Then, at eight 
o'clock on the morning of the 25th, with his cavalry and 
mounted militia, he pushed on to the Santee. Approaching 
Tydiman's plantation, he discovered two pickets with bay- 
onets, who were, he assumed, Continental soldiers. Learn- 
ing from this the presence of infantry, Colonel Thomp- 
son formed his line with rapidity, but with great care.^ 
Alarmed by the fire of the advanced pickets. Captain John 
Carraway Smith, commanding Maham's corps, having had 
time to bit the horses and mount his men, drew them up 
promptly in column, and General Marion, posting a small 
body of infantry along the fence of the lane, ordered Smith 
to charge. In order to avoid a pond in doing this. Smith 
was obliged to incline to the left to reach the enemy, and in 
performing the evolution, the regiment, being also newly 
raised and not yet well drilled, fell into disorder. Thomp- 
son at once seized the opportunity and charged with a shout. 
All was now rout and dismay. Many of the Americans, at- 
tempting to escape by swimming the Santee, were shot in 
the river by the enemy's riflemen, and others were drowned, 
among them Lieutenant Smyser of Horry's cavalry. A con- 
siderable party under the command of Captain Jones took 
the river road, and by lifting the Wambaw bridge arrested 
the progress of the enemy, and rallied at a short distance 
from their recent encampment. The number of slain was 
by no means as great as might have been supposed, for the 
pickets saved the infantry. The British claimed to have 
killed about twenty and captured twelve. James, how- 
ever, asserts that but three men were killed. The enemy's 
estimate is more probably correct.^ 

1 The Royal Gazette, March 2, 1782. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 308 ; James's Life of Marion, 163 ; 
The Royal Gazette, March 2, 1782. 



606 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The detention of Marion at Jacksonborough in order to 
pass a confiscation bill, an unwise and unfortunate measure 
in itself, and the quarrel between Maham and Horry, now 
acting under Continental commissions which Greene had 
weakly allowed to continue without practical and definite 
decision, thus resulted in the annihilation of Marion's force 
for the time, with scarcely the loss of a man to the enemy. 
Few of his men had been killed or taken, but the loss 
of horses and arms was great ; above all was the blow to the 
confidence Marion had hitherto so successfully cherished in 
his men. But no sooner was Marion's actual presence known 
than they again gathered around him. McDonald collected 
about two hundred beyond the river. Maham, sadly vexed 
and mortified and not a little offended with his commander 
for marching without him, also gathered up his dispersed 
corps, and the greatest efforts were made once more to re- 
gain the tract of country now in the undivided possession 
of the enemy. The enemy's triumph was, however, of short 
duration ; fearing the result of Thompson's expedition. 
General Greene, immediately on hearing of its actual 
movements, ordered Colonel Laurens to march to Marion's 
support. On his approach Colonel Thompson, after gather- 
ing some stock and provisions, retired to Cainhoy, where 
he was securely posted and could retreat or be reenforced 
in perfect safety. Laurens then returned beyond the 
Ashley.^ 

After this brilliant exploit. Colonel Thompson formed a 
bold plan of surprising General Greene himself, whose 
headquarters were at Ashle}'^ Hall, and capturing the com- 
mander of the Southern department. To effect this he 
must cross Ashley River either over Bacon's bridge at 
Dorchester, which was too well secured for a sudden at- 
tack of cavalry, or at Ashley, now Bee's Ferry, ten miles 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 308. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 607 

from town. He chose the latter. But when he arrived 
there it was ebb tide, the water running out as from a 
mill sluice, the banks on each side were miry, the river at 
least one hundred yards wide, and there was not a boat. 
Thompson, unacquainted with the nature of the marshy 
banks, ordered ]\Iajor Fraser to lead the first troop into 
the river and swim across. Fraser, who was an excellent 
and gallant officer, declared that he was not in the habit 
of disputing or hesitating to perform any order given by 
his commander, but protested that the thing was impos- 
sible. Thompson still persisted, but consenting that the 
attempt should be made by a sergeant, the best trooper 
and best swimmer in the corps mounted on a valuable 
charger belonging to INlajor Fraser — the horse was lost, 
and the sergeant himself barely saved ; the further attempt 
to cross the river was abandoned and the scheme to capture 
Greene given up.^ With this attempt Colonel Thompson 
disappears from the scene in South Carolina to become 
minister of war, minister of police, and grand chamber- 
lain to the Elector of Bavaria. 

After the late unfortunate occurrence, Marion found 
Horrj^'s regiment so crippled and disorganized that it 
was ordered to fall back to the Pee Dee to recruit. Only 
sixty of Maham's horse could be brought into the field, 
and he could only muster forty militiamen. Thus re- 
duced, Marion was compelled to retire beyond the Santee 
until he could return in force to repossess the country. 
The interval of his absence was but too successfully 
improved by the enemy in predatory excursions. The 
cattle had been previously driven across the Santee, but 
provision and slaves to a considerable amount were carried 
off.2 

1 James's Life of Marion, 164. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene., vol. II, 309. 



608 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

It was now determined to consolidate the remnants of 
the two Continental regiments of Horry and Maham into 
one, and the question as to which of the two should be 
retained as the commander of this consolidated regiment 
was one of great delicacy and embarrassment. Governor 
Mathews at last, however, extorted from Marion his deci- 
sion. Horry and himself had begun their careers together 
as captains in the regular regiments raised in 1775, had 
been together at Fort Moultrie, and in the Continental 
service until the fall of Charlestown ; Horry had been with 
him from his first return from North Carolina under Gates, 
and had joined him in raising again the standard of Amer- 
ican freedom when the State was declared subjugated ; and 
during all this time he had been conspicuous for his gal- 
lantry and patriotism. His property had been wasted and 
his life exposed recklessly in the cause of his country. 
Nevertheless, the fact a2:)pears to have been that Horry, 
though a good infantry officer, failed in the most essential 
requisite of a commander of cavalry, and the most common 
accomplishment of a gentleman of the time, that of horse- 
manship. Strange to say, though ambitious of the fame 
of a good cavalry officer, he was a poor rider. In several 
charges he made, it is said that he was indebted to some 
one or other of his men for saving his life. This Marion 
with great reluctance was forced to admit, and Maham 
was appointed to the command of the new regiment. 
Horry resigned, but as some consolation Marion made him 
commandant of Georgetown, with full power not only to 
defend it from the enemy, but to regulate its trade. The 
latter was a duty for which, however, he was scarcely 
better fitted than for the command of cavalry .^ 

Maham had but a short enjoyment of the preference 
shown him and of the command for which he was so am- 
1 James's Life of Marion, 165, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 609 

bitious. He was soon after taken sick, and retired to Lis 
plantation, at which a militia guard was posted to watch 
the enemy and to apprise him of any danger that should 
threaten. The news of his absence from his corps could 
not be long concealed from the enemy — so much in the 
habit of attaching importance to the presence of particu- 
lar leaders ; an adventurous young lieutenant of Cuning- 
ham's Loyalists undertook and executed the bold enterprise 
of penetrating sixty miles into the country and of making 
Maham prisoner. Among the negroes taken from Maham's 
neighborhood he found guides to conduct him through 
the woods and into the house of the colonel, whilst he sat 
at supper with his physician and one of his lieutenants. 
The surprise was too complete to admit of resistance. 
From the conduct of Cuningham's parties in recent in- 
stances and the known hostility of the Loyalists to Maham, 
nothing but death appeared to await the prisoners, when 
Robins, for that was the name of the young man, demanded 
their surrender to an officer of General Cuningham. 
Robins could neither read nor write, and his conduct was 
said to have proved his ignorance of the forms of service, 
but with true bravery and humanity the apprehensions of 
his prisoners were soon allayed by his telling them, " We 
shall do you no injury ; treat my men with humanity when 
you meet them in the field." " How much blood," ob- 
served Johnson, from whom this account is taken, " would 
have been saved had a similar spirit animated all who had 
borne a part in this dreadful drama ! " Maham was paroled 
to his own house, but the original parole was left in his 
possession ; and Robins, though requested, had exhibited 
no commission.^ 

Maham's career was ended. Horry retired to an uncon- 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 334 ; The Royal Gazette, May 22, 

1782. 

VOL. IV. — 2 R 



610 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

genial local command to which he was not suited, and 
Marion's brigade generally was disorganized. This was 
the result of Marion's detention at Jackson borough, and 
the dispute between the two officers as to their rank — a 
dispute which the commander of the department, usually 
so arbitrary, had not the firmness peremptorily to decide. 

About the same time that Thompson started upon his 
raid, a Tory son of South Carolina undertook a like in- 
cursion below. Young Andrew De Veaux, who earlier in 
the war, in order to commit his followers irrevocably, had 
ravaged General Stephen Bull's plantation and burnt 
Sheldon Church, in what is now Beaufort County, after 
several brilliant and perilous personal adventures had risen 
to the rank of major in the Royal militia, and as such had 
been in command when Harden took Fort Balfour, was 
again in the field. He sailed from the Stono with a party 
of soldiers in three small vessels, and foraged all along the 
inland watercourses, extending his incursions all the way 
to Ossabaw in Georgia. 

General Wayne, who it will be remembered had been 
despatched by General Greene into Georgia, and was now 
operating against Savannah, was endeavoring to circum- 
scribe the country from which the garrison of that town 
was drawing its supplies, as Greene had curtailed that 
which supplied Charlestown. A considerable quantity of 
rice which had not been thrashed remained on Hutch- 
inson's Island, opposite Savannah, and so near the town 
as to be under the cover of the enemy's guns. There was 
also a large amount of stacked rice on Governor Wright's 
plantation, about half a mile northeast of the town. 
Unable to get possession of this rice himself, Wayne de- 
termined to attempt its destruction. His plan was to 
make simultaneous attempts to burn the forage and grain 
collected both at Wright's and on Hutchinson's Island. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 611 

The time appointed was between twelve and two in the 
night of the 24th of February, and it was arranged that 
the party under Wayne should advance and occupy the 
attention of the enemy, whilst General Barnwell, crossing 
from the Carolina side of the river in canoes, should per- 
form his part of the undertaking. 

Unfortunately for this enterprise, De Veaux with his 
flotilla appeared at Beaufort at this time, and, though 
deceived and foiled by a party of gentlemen representing 
themselves in the dusk of the evening as an advanced 
guard of a large force, upon his first landing at Beaufort 
Island he succeeded in destroying the boats which General 
Barnwell was collecting for Wayne's expedition. Col- 
onel Robert Barnwell was, however, ordered with fifty men 
in boats to pass the river and burn the rice upon the 
island. By some misfortune he was betrayed or dis- 
covered, and being fired upon as he advanced, retreated, 
losing five or six of his men killed and as many taken 
prisoners. Wayne, hearing the firing, advanced, in order 
to draw the attention of the enemy to himself, and com- 
pletely succeeded in effecting his part of the undertaking. ^ 
It was at this time that the opposition to General Barn- 
well's command and discontent at his appointment ran 
highest ; and he very soon after resigned. ^ 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 293, 294 ; McCall's Hist, of Geor- 
gia, vol. II, 402 ; Johnson's Traditions, 178 ; TTie Royal Gazette, March 13, 
1782. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 293-294. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

1782 

When the Jacksonborough Assembly adjourned, Gen- 
eral Greene moved the army from Skirving's plantation on 
the Pon Pon to Bacon's bridge at the head of the Ashley. 
From this point a communication by boat was opened with 
Charlestown, and a contraband trade carried on with 
the concurrence of the governor and council, and with the 
connivance of the general himself. Means were brought 
to his consideration by which certain offers of goods in 
return for rice were suffered to enter Charlestown. Some 
supplies for the most distressing wants of the army were 
received in this way under the eyes of Colonels Laurens 
and Lee. 

From the time of the failure of the expedition to John's 
Island, General Greene had in contemplation a bold move- 
ment into the peninsula or neck of land on which stands 
the city of Charlestown. His plan was to float a detach- 
ment down the Ashley, in the night, to enter the town in 
that quarter, in connection with an assault by him upon 
the enemy's liiies in front. Sumter, being consulted upon 
the plan, just before his resignation, wrote that there was 
no difficulty of carrying the post at the Quarter House, 
and thus entering the neck ; the question was as to the ma- 
terials which Greene had for the assault upon the lines of 
the town, and the danger of being flanked from the rivers.^ 

1 General Sumter to General Greene, December 22, 1781 ; Sumter's 
letters, Year Book, City of Charleston, 1899, Appendix, 68. 

612 



IN THE REVOLUTION 613 

As the scheme presented great difficulties, it was not to 
be attempted without the careful preliminary examinations 
of the river. Unfortunately a British galley, for some un- 
known purpose, had been pushed high up the Ashley and 
stationed there. Greene was anxious to have the obstruc- 
tion removed, and intimated his wish, provided the galley 
could be destroj'ed without too great a sacrifice. Captain 
Rudulph of Lee's Legion was advised by Lee of the gen- 
eral's wish, and charged with the device of some plan for 
the execution. Rudulph at once undertook the project, 
but its attempt was for the time postponed by a movement 
of the enemy to beat up Lee's quarters at McQueen's plan- 
tation, forcing Lee to fall back nearer the army. Rudulph 
did not, however, give up the scheme. Soon after the 
defeat of Marion's brigade, that is, early in March, he pre- 
sented a plan to Colonel Lee, who laid it before General 
Greene. He had observed the facility with which boats 
going to market passed the galley ; and he proposed to put 
in one of these boats an adequate force, disguising himself 
in a countryman's dress, and three or four soldiers in the 
garb and color of negroes. The boat was to be stored with 
the usual articles for the Charlestown market, under cover 
of which he concealed his armed men, while the boat was 
apparently manned only by himself as a countryman, and 
four negroes. Lieutenant Smith of the Virginia line, who 
had with him arranged the plan, joined the captain in its 
execution. Everything having been prepared with pro- 
found secrecy, Rudulph and Smith embarked with their 
parties at a concealed landing-place high up the Ashley on 
the night of the 18th of March. Between three and four 
in the morning, Rudulph got near to the galley, when the 
sentinel hailed the boat. He was answered in the negro 
dialect that it was a market boat, going to town, and asked 
permission to proceed. In reply the boat was ordered to 



614 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

come alongside, as the captain wished to purchase some 
provisions. Rudulph obeyed, and, as he got alongside, 
threw some of his poultry on deck, his disguised men at 
the same time taking fast hold of the galley. On signal 
from Rudulph, Smith and the soldiers rose and boarded the 
galley. Three or four of the men of the galley, including 
the sentinel, were killed. Some escaped in the darkness 
of the night by throwing themselves into the river, and 
the captain with twenty-eight sailors were captured. The 
galley mounted twelve guns besides swivels, and was 
manned with forty-three seamen. Rudulph did not lose 
a man, and after taking out such stores as he found on 
board the galley he burnt her, and returned to his place of 
embarkation. 

The enterprise was productive of excellent effect upon 
the British garrison in the town. It counteracted the suc- 
cesses of Coffin and Thompson, and alarmed the enemy 
lest the town might be assailed, as Greene contemplated, 
and to open the way for which this adventure had, in fact, 
been first designed. Every alarm in the night excited dire 
apprehensions: sometimes Greene was moving to force 
their lines ; at others he was floating down the Ashley ; 
and in one way or other he was ever present to their dis- 
turbed imaginations. But such fears were illusory. After 
a critical examination of the enemy's situation, no point 
was found vulnerable, and the general was obliged to 
relinquish any attempt on the city.^ 

There was distress and great discontent in the army at 
this time. No supplies could be obtained from Congress, 
and none from Virginia or North Carolina. For two years 
two armies had ravaged the State of South Carolina, draw- 
ing their supplies entirely from its fields. The arrival of 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 537, 545-546 ; Moultrie's Me- 
moirs, 297. 



m THE REVOLUTION 615 

reenforcements from Pennsylvania now, after the fighting 
was nearly over, but added so many more mouths to be 
filled. On the 9th of March General Greene addressed the 
President of Congress as follows : — 

" Your officers are in distress, having drained every private resource 
for support. Your soldiei'S are complaining for want of pay and 
clothing ; and though both have shown as much merit and virtue, 
as much patience and forbearance, as can be found in history, yet you 
cannot but be sensible that this is a dangerous foundation to build 
upon — though it may last for a time it will have an end. 1 shall 
use all the address and influence I am master of to gain time ; but 
some fundamental alteration must take place or opposition will fail ; 
and whenever a discontent begins to discover itself a dissolution will 
follow — a temper I dread the approach of, and a consequence I fear 
much more than the force of the enemy. 

" Great part of my troops are in deplorable situation for want of 
clothing, and it would have been much worse had it not been for some 
small supplies from the people at large and from the merchants of 
Charlestown by the advice and approbation of the Governor and 
council of the State, who have, upon every occasion, done everything 
in their power for our relief and support. 

" Not a rag of clothing has come from the northward, except a 
small quantity of linen for the officers. A considerable quantity has 
been in Virginia all winter, and a number of arms which we have 
been, and still are in great M^ant of. We have three hundred men with- 
out arms, and more than a thousand men are so naked for want of 
clothing, that they can only be put on duty in cases of desperate ne- 
cessity. Men in this situation, without pay or spirits, it is difficult to 
tell what charm keeps them together. I believe that nothing but the 
pride of the army, and the severity of discipline support them under 
their sufferings." ^ 

When General Greene first entered South Carolina there 
was no civil government, and he had exercised the right 
of impressment from military necessity. And when Gov- 
ernor Rutledge joined him on the Pee Dee the governor 
was at hand to support liim to the extent of his dictatorial 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 316, 317. 



616 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

powers. But this power of impressment had been greatly 
abused in Virginia, and, as has been seen, offensively 
exercised by Colonel Lee in this State. It is not surpris- 
ing, therefore, that among the acts of the Jacksonborough 
Assembly was one prohibiting impressments. The State 
did not, however, stop to bargain for the support of the 
army now left entirely upon her, for Georgia could do 
nothing ; but without contract or reference to the inquiry 
whether it would amount to more or less than her quota, 
took upon herself its maintenance. The fact was, as after- 
wards appeared. South Carolina was already creditor to 
the largest amount of any State in the Union except 
jNIassachusetts, notwithstanding the greater devastation 
which had been committed within her borders. But this 
she did not stop to compute. Congress had assigned as 
her quota of $1,000,000, the Continental estimate for the 
year 1782, the sum of $73,598. In consideration of the 
scarcity of specie, Mr. Morris, the Superintendent of 
Finance of the United States, proposed that supplies for 
the army should be furnished by the State in kind, instead 
of in money to that amount. The Assembly accepted this 
proposition, and passed an act reciting the facts and pledg- 
ing the faith of the State for procuring and furnishing 
supplies to the army to the amount asked for. For this 
purpose commissioners were appointed who were charged 
with obtaining these supplies in a manner most equal and 
least burdensome to the people. But in doing this the 
Assembly also provided that no other persons than those 
who should be appointed by the governor should be 
allowed or permitted to procure supplies for the army.^ 
Impressments were thus emphatically prohibited. It was 
objected that this prohibition was calculated to make the 

1 Statutes at Large, vol. IV, 325, 326. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 617 

army altogether dependent upon the State for subsistence ; ^ 
but surely, if Congress could not or would not support it, 
the alternative, however disagreeable to General Greene, 
was the necessary consequence of the neglect of Congress, 
not the fault of the State. The condition in which the 
community would be placed, if the army could take what- 
ever they wanted or claimed that they wanted, would 
scarcely be preferable to the demands of the Royal 
authority. Though he made no complaint at the time, it 
is evident that Greene was not pleased with the arrange- 
ment. The sincerity and earnestness of the governor and 
council, as well as of the Assembly, however, were too 
conspicuous to admit of doubt of their intentions, and the 
general communicated to the governor the quantity of pro- 
visions in bread and meat necessary for the daily allowance 
of the army. This Governor Mathews undertook without 
hesitation to furnish. 

Mr. William Hort was appointed commissary and forage 
master general in behalf of the State, and the new system 
went into operation under the most favorable auspices; but 
in less than six weeks murmurs began and General Greene 
was complaining. On the 1st of April he writes to the 
governor : — 

" I am much afraid that Mr. Hort has not the activity or industry 
requisite for the duties of his appointment. We are from day to day kept 
uneasy for want of regular supplies of provision. One day we are with- 
out beef, the next without rice, and some days without either. Supplies 
coming to the army in this way keep the men continually murmuring 
and complaining. Men will bear disappointments for two or three 
days at a time, but when the supplies are continually irregular and fre- 
quently deficient, the soldiei-s will get impatient and that will soon 
grow up into disagreeable discontent. To produce these frequent dis- 
appointments thei'e must be a defect in the arrangements or a want 
of industry in the execution. I am not acquainted with Mr. Hort but 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene., vol. II, 315. 



618 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

I am afiaid he has more method than despatch. To fill the place he 
is in activity is no less requisite than method and integrity. Your 
Excellency knows of how much importance it is to have the army 
constantly and well supplied ; and in our situation how dangerous a 
failure. I beg you will therefore explain to Mr. Hort the necessity 
of being punctual. The service must suffer if the troops are without 
provisions and God only knows what may be the consequences should 
the enemy avail himself of one of these unfortunate moments to at- 
tack. We are very near the enemy, even within surprising distance. 
It is dangerous hazarding the least discontent in a matter which never 
fails to produce ill humor in an army. Our troops have never been 
without provisions so much during all last campaign as they have since 
Mr. Ilort has undertaken the business, and the provisions not more 
than twenty or thirty miles off." ^ 

Besides General Greene's usual querulousness, there is a 
tone of uneasiness and anxiety in this letter unwarranted 
by the irregularities in the supplies of which it complains. 
That Mr. Hort was able to supply the army at all under 
the circumstances should have caused congratulations rather 
than complaints. The country from which the supplies were 
to be drawn had been harried and ravaged now for two 
years. The dispersion of Marion's brigade had cut off the 
country from the Cooper to the San tee; that from the Santee 
to the Edisto had, during the whole of the preceding season, 
been traversed and pillaged to an extent which had pre- 
vented farming and interfered with the produce. Upon 
the evacuation of Camden, Sumter had cleared it as far as 
he could of cattle and horses, and Lord Rawdon on his re- 
treat had swept away all that Sumter had left. In the 
section to the south of the Edisto the planters had been in 
a turmoil since Harden had entered it the year before. 
Without means of transportation, the wonder is that the 
State commissary was able to accomplish as much as he 
did. Doubtless the army felt the check upon the arbitrary 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 315. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 619 

impressments in which they had been indulged during the 
last year, and that in this way it was true that they had not 
been as restricted during the last campaign. Governor 
Mathews, who had experience as chairman of the commit- 
tee of Congress, at Washington's headquarters, was quite 
as competent to judge of Mr. Hort's efficiency as General 
Greene ; and while he made the most zealous efforts to 
keep the troops supplied. General Greene's complaints did 
not shake his confidence in Mr. Hort's industry and capac- 
ity. Probably, too, Governor Mathews was aware of the 
general's habit of finding some one responsible for all his 
own misadventures, and that not even Colonel Davie, who 
had sacrificed opportunities of fame in the field, to act as 
his commissary and had served him so faithfully, and 
apparently possessed so large a portion of his esteem, could 
escape expressions of the general's impatience.^ 

The truth is that Greene had deeper causes of anxiety at 
this time than could have been given by the absence of rum 
and tobacco, and the irregularities of the commissariat. The 
whole Continental line was doubtless in a deplorable state 
for the want of clothing and other necessaries ; but beyond 
physical suffering, which many other armies have endured 
without rebellion, there was at this time a spirit of unrest 
and insubordination throughout his army. Colonel Lee, 
who had been so petted and spoiled by General Greene, 
could not brook being outranked by Colonel Laurens, 
and conceiving that Greene had not done him justice in 
his official reports, on the 26th of January, 1782, requested 
leave of absence in a letter in which he does not attempt 
to conceal his discontent and dissatisfaction. A wordy and 
platitudinous correspondence ensued between the former 
friends, in which they declared their love for each other; 
but Lee refused to withdraw his letter, and left the army 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 2-18. 



620 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ill which he had so greatly distinguished himself, and the 
operations of which he had so greatly influenced.^ Upon 
his retirement General Greene reorganized his light troops 
into a brigade, which he j)laced under the command of 
General Gist of Maryland. By this arrangement the 
cavalry of the Legion and that of the Third and Fourth 
Virginia Regiments were united under Colonel Baylor; 
the infantry of the Legion, the dismounted dragoons of the 
Third Regiment, the Delaware Regiment, and one hundred 
men detached from the line and commanded by Major Beale, 
were formed into a body of infantry under the command of 
Colonel Laurens. This arrangement gave new cause for 
offence, as it prevented the promotion of Major Rudulph, who 
had so long and so efficiently served, but who, in Greene's 
opinion, did not possess the requisites for such a command. 
Connected with this objection was also an indisposition to 
serve under Colonel Laurens. The result was the resi^na- 
tion in a body of Major Rudulph and all the officers of the 
Legion. Then the captains and subalterns of the Pennsyl- 
vania line were offended because Captain Wilmot of the 
Maryland line had been put in charge of a critical service, and 
undertook to remonstrate against it and discuss with the 
general the propriety of the detail. ^ It was not surprising, 
as General Wayne declared, that such a spirit of discontent 
and insubordination should be communicated to the men. 
Nor was it to be expected that the state of the army 
or the sentiment of the soldiers could be concealed from 
an enemy but twenty miles distant ; and unfortunately 
the army at this time had in it a mass of material too easy 

^ Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 321-322. Colonel Lee concludes by 
declaring his wish that he could bind his mind to another decision. He 
writes, " I have tried much, but the sores of my wounds are only 
irritated by such efforts." 

2 Captain William Wilmot, Second Maryland Continental Regiment, 
who was to fall just before the end of the war, his blood the last spilled in 
the Revolution. 



IN THE REVOLUTION G21 

to be worked upon. This was in the Pennsylvania line, 
whose officers were now disputing with the general 
the propriety of his orders, and whose men were the 
very mutineers who had triumphed over the government in 
the insurrection in New Jersey the year before, and who, 
as Lafayette observed, "had been well paid and well 
clothed in consequence of it." There was even in it one 
of the sergeants who had been put in command of the 
regiments in the mutiny, and a number of others of the 
same description who had deserted from the enemy whilst 
they lay in Philadelphia. It was believed that this man. 
Sergeant Gornell, and several others, including the gen- 
eral's steward, had been bought over by secret emissaries ; 
and had the zeal of these agents not prompted them to 
make an attempt on the fidelity of the Maryland line, the 
most fatal consequences might have ensued.^ 

The first indication of the trouble was a placard near the 
quarters of General St. Clair, who commanded the Penn- 
sylvanians, to this effect, " Can soldiers he expected to do 
their duty clothed in rags and fed on rice.'"' The Maryland, 
Delaware, and Virginia Continentals were doubtless in 
rags at this time ; but the Pennsylvania line, as Lafayette 
observed, were from their mutiny the best-clothed troops 
in the army. These men were no doubt unaccustomed to 
rice, but it was a substantial and nutritious food. Pam- 
pered, indeed, must have been the soldiers who would 
mutiny rather than eat it. Suspicion attaching to certain 
of the line, they went over at once to the enemy, and the 
trouble apparently ended. But it had not ; a conspiracy 
was formed by Gornell and the general's steward, and a 
correspondence opened with the enemy to deliver up on a 
given day the commander and every officer of distinction. 
The quick ear of a camp-woman, who had noticed the 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene., vol. II, 319. 



622 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

murmuring of the disaffected and unguarded expressions of 
the ringleader, occasioned the discovery of the plot. 

Steps were at once taken to meet and crush the revolt. 
The light troops, who had been relieved of outpost duty 
and were being indulged with more comfortable quarters 
in the rear to recover from the fatigues of the severe ser- 
vice they had undergone, were quietly brought forward. 
To these not a shade of suspicion attached. Washington's 
and the Legion cavalry took their station in advance. The 
Delawares, Smith's company of Virginia regulars, and the 
Legion infantry were drawn nearer to headquarters. A 
troop of horse was pushed forward to watch the motions 
of the enemy. These arrangements having been quietly 
but promptly made, Sergeant Gornell was arrested. That 
night every soldier who apprehended he had committed 
himself broke away and joined the enemy, then advanced 
to receive them ; for this it appears was the very day the 
plot was to have been executed. For many days before 
symptoms of mutiny had appeared, and movements of the 
enemy had taken place which had put the American com- 
mander on his guard. 

Sergeant Gornell was tried and convicted and executed 
on the 22d of April. He walked to his execution with a 
firm step and composed countenance, distributing, as he 
passed along, to such of his companions as approached him, 
several articles of his clothing, at that period valuable 
legacies. His hat he gave to one, his coat to another, his 
sleeve-buttons to a third. Every countenance, we are told, 
expressed sorrow, but not a murmur was heard. Arrived 
at the fatal spot, the doomed man, in a few words, bat in 
the most impressive manner, called upon his comrades 
"not to sully their glory nor forego the advantages they 
would specially realize from a termination of the war; and 
if a thought of desertion had been harbored in their bosoms 



IN THE REVOLUTION 623 

at once to discard it." "I have no cause," he added, "to 
complain of the court. I certainly spoke imprudently, 
and from the evidence given of my guilt they could not 
have acted otherwise." He then gave the signal to the 
platoon selected from his own corps, was fired on, and 
expired.^ 

Some others, believed to be associates with the sergeant, 
among whom were Peters and Owens, domestic servants at 
headquarters, were also tried ; but the testimony was not 
deemed conclusive by tlie court. Four other sergeants of 
the Pennsylvania line were sent into the interior under 
guard. The decisive conduct of General Greene crushed 
effectually the mutiny, and the result proved that, although 
the temper of complaint and of discontent pervaded the 
arm}', but few of the soldiers were in reality guilty of the 
criminal intentions which were believed at first to have 
spread far through the ranks. 

On the morning of the execution Captain O'Neal of the 
Legion, accompanied by Lieutenant John Middleton and 
Captain Rudulph, who had volunteered, was sent to watch 
the movements of the enemy. Passing Bacon's bridge, they 
patrolled the road for several miles below Dorchester, and 
seeing no appearance of the enemy without their lines, 
O'Neal turned his troop to retire. Rudulph and two 
dragoons were in the advance. On a sudden three well- 
mounted black troopers appeared in their front. These 
were immediately charged. The chief of the negro party 
fell by the arm of Pope, a soldier of distinguished gal- 
lantry. Rudulph dismounted the second, and made him a 
prisoner. The thiid escaped. From the captive they 
learned that a troop under the command of Captain Daw- 
kins had gone by the way of Goose Creek bridge and 
were to return by way of Dorchester. Upon this informa- 

1 Garden's Aiiecdotes of the Revolution, 365-367. 



624 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tion O'Neal pushed forward in full expectation of a com- 
plete triumph. Dawkins was soon discovered passing 
through the village of Dorchester and bearing down upon 
O'Neal. The charge was sounded on both sides and a 
fierce conflict began ; but before any material advantage 
could be gained, the bugle was heard from another quarter, 
and British infantry arose in every direction. A road 
leading to Goose Creek afforded the only chance of retreat; 
this was immediately taken, and, though exposed to a 
heavy fire, the officers and most of the privates escaped 
without injury — nine men and fifteen horses of the troop 
fell into the hands of the enemy. This was the only 
advantage resulting to the enemy in a conjuncture from 
which he expected to derive signal benefit. ^ 

General Pickens, it will be remembered, had, about the 
1st of November, been despatched to guard the frontiers 
against the Indians, who had again been incited to rise, a 
part of Cuningham's band having escaped in that direction 
after the massacre at Hayes's Station and joined the 
Cherokees there.^ Some time before General Pickens em- 
barked upon the expedition he communicated his intentions 
to Generals Rutherford and Sevier of North Carolina, re- 
questing their cooperation. These officers responded, and 
a plan of campaign, assailing the Indian country at differ- 
ent points, was arranged; but for some reasons unknown, 
Rutherford and Sevier did not comply with their under- 
taking. General Pickens, relying upon this promised 
assistance, about the 1st of January, with a party of Geor- 
gians under Major John Cunningham and a portion of his 
own brigade, made a rapid but cautious march into the 
eastern part of the Cherokee Nation, in what is now Oconee 

1 Memoirs of the War of 1776 (Lee), 547, 549 ; Johnson's Life of 
Greene, vol. II, 319, 320; Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolution^ 367, 368. 

2 See ante, 484. 



IN THE REVOLUTIOiSr 625 

County, and laid every town, village, and settlement in 
ashes on the east of the mountains. Receiving no intelli- 
gence, however, of the cooperation of Rutherford and 
Sevier, he fell back. This retrograde motion was construed 
by the Indians into fear of a general engagement, and dis- 
sipated the effect of the destruction of their towns and 
property. In this expedition Pickens killed forty Cherokees, 
with a great number of prisoners, burned thirteen towns, 
with the loss only of two men wounded.^ 

Colonel Robert Anderson of Pickens's brigade, obtain- 
ing intelligence that an attack was to be made by a body 
of Loyalists, Cherokees, and Creeks, communicated the 
information to Colonel Clarke of Georgia, and appointed 
Freeman Fort as the place of rendezvous on the 1st of 
April. Clarke repaired there with one hundred Georgians 
and was joined by Anderson with three hundred Carolinians. 
They marched early the next morning to Oconee River, 
passed over it a short distance, where they halted to obtain 
further intelligence of the enemy. Scouts were sent out 
in different directions, with orders to avoid if possible being 
discovered by the Indians. Captain Black, who commanded 
one of these parties, had not proceeded more than a mile 
before he fell in with the main body of the enemy. The 
discovery of each other was made at the same time by 
both parties. Black retreated towards camp, and was 
pursued and fired upon by the Indians, who appeared to 
have had no information of a formidable force being so 
near them. Colonel Clarke immediately advanced to the 
scene of action and met Black on the retreat. When the 
enemy discovered the American force, they fled in the ut- 
most confusion, and scattered in various directions so as to 
avoid a general engagement. Several of the Indians were 
killed, and two of the Loyalists were taken prisoners and 
iMcCall's Hist. ofGa., vol. II, 698; Memoirs of the War 0/ 1 77^ (Lee), 527. 

VOL. IV. — 2s 



626 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

hanged — for former offences, as it was said. Their very- 
presence with the Indians, however, under these circum- 
stances, would have justified their execution. Captain 
HoUoway of Anderson's regiment was killed in the pur- 
suit by a wounded Indian. This defeat had a temporary 
effect, and left the inhabitants for a few months in the 
enjoyment of comparative quietness and peace. ^ 

Lee justly observes that it is extraordinary that the 
Cherokees, who had complied with their engagements and 
kept the peace during the past campaign, when the success 
of Lord Cornwallis and the many difficulties Greene had to 
encounter gave such encouragement to their rising, should 
have delayed doing so until the British army in Virginia 
had been forced to surrender, and that acting in South 
Carolina had been compelled to take shelter under the 
guns of the forts and ships in Charlestown harbor; and 
that at this late hour they were so rash as to listen to 
exhortations often before applied in vain. 

The inhabitants in the interior, between the Indians on 
the frontier and the armies now restricted to the coast, 
were yet in a fearful condition. Open war had ceased, 
and the armies had passed away, but the internecine 
struggle in many parts of the State still continued with 
fearful results. In some, however, truces were agreed 
upon between the Whigs and Loyalists. One instance 
of this was a truce made between the Loyalists on the 
Salkehatchie and the neighboring State militia in order to 
allow the cultivation of the crops for the ensuing summer. 
To effect this, proposals were made for a cessation of 
hostilities for a limited time. Commissioners authorized 
for the purpose met at the house of a Mr. Gray on the 
southern side of the Edisto, about ten miles above Saw 
Mills. Captains Oldfield, Jones, and Cheshire of the 
iMcCall's Hist. o/Ga., vol. II, 308, 399. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 627 

Royal militia represented the Tory side,' and Colonel 
Davies, Captains Youngblood of Edisto and Heape of 
Horse Shoe, empowered by Governor Mathews, repre- 
sented that of the Whigs. A truce was agreed upon for 
two months, from the 1st of April and ending on the 1st 
of June, during which a strict neutrality was to be observed, 
and those who had lost property on either side were to be 
allowed to recover it upon proper proof. The territory 
included in the truce was described as extending from the 
Upper Three runs to Mathews's Bluff on the Savannah 
River, and from thence across the country in the same 
breadth in a direction nearly perpendicular to South 
Edisto, comprising an extent of country nearly sixty 
miles square, part of which reached within thirty miles 
of the rear of General Greene's position. ^ 

This truce lasted until near the 25th of May, when The 
Royal G-azette charged that it was broken by the Whigs ; 
Major Goodwyn of the Congaree militia with eighteen men 
from the post at Four Holes at midnight seizing Captain 
Cheshire and three of his men at a friend's house on the 
Edisto. But this action was probably brought on by the 
collection of a body of hostile Tories on Dean Swamp, a 
branch of the South Edisto, near the present town of Salley. 
Captains Michael Watson and William Butler of Pickens's 
brigade, learning of the assembling of the party of Tories, 
determined to break them up. The expedition was formed 
at the Ridge, in what is now Edgefield, with Captain 
Watson in command. Watson's men were mounted militia 
armed with rifles and muskets, Butler's were cavalry 
armed with pistols and cutlasses. The party moved for- 
ward at sunset to surprise the Tories. They moved with 
great rapidity and captured a disaffected man named 
Hutto, whom they hurried along with them under guard. 
1 The Boyal Gazette, June 8, 1782, 



628 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

As tliey approached the Tory encampment Hutto made 
his escape and gave notice to the Tories of Watson's ap- 
proach ; upon which an ambush was arranged for the 
approaching Whigs. When Hutto's escape was reported, 
Watson declared his opinion that the expedition should 
be abandoned ; but Butler thought otherwise, and they 
continued to advance. As the Whigs approached the 
edge of the swamp two men were observed as if 
endeavoring to hide themselves. Butler, Watson, and 
Sergeant Vardell — a very brave man — rode rapidly for- 
ward to capture them. Watson first discovered that these 
men were only a decoy, and when too late warned the 
others that the whole of the Tories were there concealed. 
The Tories arose on being discovered, and poured on their 
assailants a well-directed fire, which brought down Wat- 
son, Vardell, and several others of the foremost Whigs. 
Upon the fall of Watson, Butler assumed command, and, 
though sorely pressed, brought off the wounded men ; but 
now found to his mortification that the infantry had little 
or no ammunition left, and that the enemy were advancing 
upon him. In this emergency John Corley, his lieutenant, 
made a desperate charge on the enemy, and that so unex- 
pectedly as to throw them into confusion ; following up 
his advantage, his men, mingling in the disordered ranks 
of the enemy, prevented them rallying. Butler continued 
his impetuous onslaught until the Tories took refuge in 
the swamp. As the Whigs returned in triumph, the 
gallant Vardell made an effort to rise and wave his hand 
in exultation, but fell back and expired. He was buried 
in the field. Watson survived until the Whigs reached 
Orangeburgh, but died immediately afterwards.^ 

It was just after this that "Bloody Bill" Cuningham 
made a second incursion into Ninety Six District. Per- 
1 Johnson's Traditions, 548, 549 ; MS. Memoir of General William Butler. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 629 

fectly familiar with the country from his youth, possessed 
of great sagacity and fertility in military expedients, and 
endowed with all the physical qualities so essential to the 
partisan, he was no mean adversary. But, fortunately for 
the Whigs, a leader was found in Captain William Butler 
fully able to cope with the brilliant, if bloody, Tory parti- 
san. Cuningham's favorite manoeuvre was to divide his 
command upon the march into small detachments, to be 
concentrated by different routes near the point at which 
the blow was aimed. Tn this manner he had concentrated 
his force at a point known as Corradine's Ford on the 
Saluda. Butler, with a portion of his company, marched 
to meet him, and to ascertain his position resorted to a 
ruse. Approaching the residence of Joseph Cuningham, 
near the junction of the Little and the Big Saluda, he sent 
forward his brother, Thomas Butler, with Abner Corley, 
to the house in the night. Thomas Butler was an excel- 
lent mimic, and, imitating the voice of one of William 
Cuningham's men, named Nibletts, called aloud and in- 
quired "where our friend Cuningham was." The wife 
of Joseph Cuningham replied that he had crossed Cor- 
radine's Ford. With that Captain Butler himself rode up 
to the house, and, mounting Joseph Cuningham upon a 
horse, compelled him to guide the party across the ford. 
They crossed this ford at twelve o'clock at night, and next 
morning halted in a peach orchard near Bauknight's Ferry. 
The horses were feeding, when a gray mare which Cun- 
ingham was known to have taken from the neighbor- 
hood was observed passing back, having escaped from his 
camp. This incident disclosed in some measure the state 
of affairs, and Butler's rangers received the order to march. 
The rangers numbered about thirty, Cuningham's men 
about twenty. The bloody scenes of Cloud's Creek, it was 
observed, animated every encounter between Butler and 



630 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Cuningham with more the spirit of the duel than of the 
battle-field. 

Approaching the Tory position unobserved, John Corley 
was detailed with eight men to gain their rear, and upon 
a preconcerted signal to attack while the main body ad- 
vanced under cover of a hedge. The Tories were drying 
their blankets by their camp-fires, and Cuningham him- 
self was at a little distance off from his band. As it after- 
wards appeared, Butler's person being at one time exposed 
in advancing before the signal was given, he was observed 
by the Tories, but taken for their own leader, for there 
was a strong personal resemblance between the two men. 
Corley's furious assault, himself foremost in the charge, 
was the first intimation to the Tories that their exasper- 
ated foes were at hand. Cuningham was promptly at 
his post ; but, taken by surprise and attacked by superior 
numbers, thought only of safety. Having no time to 
saddle his horse, but seizing his holsters, with a partisan's 
quickness he sprang to his seat, while Butler, singling him 
out, dashed in pursuit. Both men were remarkably good 
riders, and tradition has preserved even the names of the 
horses they rode. Cuningham was mounted on a mare 
which had become celebrated in his service as " Silver 
Heels," while Butler rode a horse called " Ranter." As 
Butler carried only a sabre and Cuningham had only 
his pistols, which had been rendered useless by the rain 
of the previous night, life or death hung upon the speed 
of the horses. As long as the chase was in the woods, 
Ranter maintained his own ; but when they struck an open 
trail in which the superior stride of Cuningham "s 
thoroughbred could tell, turning in his seat and patting 
with triumphant confidence the noble animal that bore 
him, he tauntingly exclaimed, "I am safe." Dashing 
rajtidly away from his adversary, he escaped by himself 
swimming the Saluda near Lorick's Ferry. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 631 

When Butler returned from the pursuit of Cuningham, 
he found a portion of his command iissembled at the Tory 
camp under circumstances which gave him great concern. 
Turner, one of the prisoners, had been deliberately shot 
throufrh the head after he had surrendered. When But- 
ler had rebuked the act, Scysia, who had committed the 
deed, justified himself by telling of an outrage the un- 
fortunate Tory had inflicted upon his mother. The 
Tory, he alleged, had stripped Mrs. Scysia to the waist, 
had tied and severely whipped her, to force her to dis- 
close where were a party of Whigs among wliom was her 
son. The corps justified Scysia, and no action was taken 
against him. A pursuit of Cuningham's men was ordered 
for the purpose of capturing or dispersing them, and some 
were overtaken while crossing the river, others were shot. 
The result of this action was the dispersion of Cuning- 
ham's famous band.i 

1 MS. Memoir of General William Butler ; Curwin's Journal and 
Letters, Appendix, 646. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

1782 

On the 4tli of April, General Leslie addressed a com- 
munication to General Greene, in which he stated that 
it was with deep concern he viewed, in the proceedings 
of the late Assembly, acts for amercing the property of 
some persons and confiscating that of others whose prin- 
ciples had attached them to the cause of their sovereign. 
He had hoped that humanity would have arrested their 
execution, and that he would not have been compelled 
to take measures to counteract their effect. But when 
these hopes were disappointed and he found the property 
of the loyal removed from their estates, he could no longer 
remain the quiet spectator of their distresses ; and in 
order to induce a juster line of conduct he had employed 
a part of the force intrusted to his charge for their pro- 
tection in seizing the negroes of General Greene's friends, 
that restitution might be made to such of his as might 
suffer under these oppressive and ruinous measures. 
This, he stated, was the object of the late expedition 
towards the Santee, and intimated that others would 
follow unless the confiscation and amercement acts were 
abandoned. 

General Leslie felt, however, the necessity, in making 
this communication, of explaining or justifying in some 
way the action of his predecessors in their conduct towards 
the estates of the rebels, as they termed the Whigs; so 
he proceeded : — 

632 



IN" THE REVOLUTION 633 

''To point out to you, or the world, the distinction between tempo- 
rary sequestration and actual confiscation would be impertinent; but 
it will by no means be so to observe on the opposite conduct pursued 
by each party in carrying into execution these very diiferent meas- 
ures ; for whilst you have endeavored to involve, in perpetual ruin, 
the persons and estates of those who have differed from you in politi- 
cal sentiments, I can safely appeal even to those whose violent opposi- 
tion to the King's government compelled the withholding from them for 
a time their possessions in this province, for the great attention which 
has been invai-iably paid to their property — the connected state in 
which it has been preserved — and the liberal allowances that were 
made to their families, in so much that, while other estates were run- 
ning to waste by the destruction of the country, these have greatly 
thriven at the expense of the government." 

On the other hand, General Leslie went on to suggest 
that, should the enforcement of the confiscation acts be sus- 
pended, and General Greene should think a meeting of 
commissioners on each side might tend to lessen the 
devastations of the war and secure inviolate the property 
of individuals, he would have a peculiar happiness in em- 
bracing proposals that might accomplish such benevolent 
purposes. 

To this letter General Greene returned an immediate 
answer " that he had the honor to command the forces of 
the United States in the Southern Department, but had 
nothing to do with the internal police of any State." On 
this General Leslie addressed himself to Governor Math- 
ews, enclosing the letter he had addressed to General 
Greene. 

Governor Mathews on the 12th returned General Leslie 
an elaborate repl}^ in the course of which he wrote : — 

" I would not, Sir, give an hasty answer to your observations on this 
subject, and thought myself well justified in deviating from the rule 
of politeness in delaying an answer, that I might have an oppor- 
tunity of investigating truth. I have taken much pains in my 
inquiries, the result of which has been the most indubitable proofs, 



634 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

that so far from these sequestered estates having had the greatest at- 
tention paid to them — being preserved in a connected state — and 
'greatly thriven,' most of them, while under the management of 
your sequestrator, have been very greatly injured; many have been 
nearly ruined, and others altogether so. What expense the British 
government has incurred on their account I know not, but, 1 can with 
confidence assert the sequestered estates have been very little bene- 
fited thereby. 

" I will now appeal to a fact within your own knowledge. You 
know that great numbers of the negroes, belonging to these estates 
are now within your lines, and lost to their owners. And on few 
plantations is a four-footed animal to be found. How then do you 
prove that the estates have been preserved in a connected state, when 
one-half of some, two-thirds of others, and the whole of a few have 
been deprived of the negroes and stock that were upon them when 
put under sequestration ? How do you prove that these estates have 
greatly thriven ; and that the greatest attention has been paid to 
them? 

" As to the liberal allow^ance made to the families of those persons 
whose estates were sequestered : this. Sir, I must beg leave to say you 
have been as greatly deceived in, as the other parts of your informa- 
tion. So far from the wives and children having been allowed the 
stipulated sums out of their husbands' and fathers' estates, the truth is, 
that after much entreaty, and in many instances very unbecoming 
treatment, some have obtained trifling sums compared with what they 
were entitled to, while others have been altogether denied. 

" On this ground of investigation I am ready to meet you. Sir, 
whenever you think proper, when I will undertake to produce to you 
the proofs for everything I have here advanced. 

" Your observations on the opposite conduct of each party on carry- 
ing into execution the measures of sequestration and confiscation, so 
far from being founded in fact, evidently show the uniform deception 
into which you have been led. 

" In the common acceptation of the word, it is true, sequestration 
means no more than a temporary privation of property ; but your 
sequestrator general, and most of his officers, have construed this word 
into a very different meaning ; and, regardless of the articles of capitu- 
lation of Charlestown, as well as the most sacred contracts contained in 
marriage settlements, every species of property, negroes, plate, house- 
hold furniture, horses, carriages, cattle, etc., have been indiscrimi- 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 635 

nately torn from their owners by persons now under your immediate 
command, and have been either sent beyond seas, for the benefit of 
those who had taken — I had ahnost said phmdered — them, or now 
remains within your lines, and in eitlier case lost to their owners. 

Now, Sir, let us for a moment view the conduct of the legislature 
of this State in their late session. The most sacred regard has been 
paid by them to private contracts ; neither marriage settlements nor 
the faith of individuals have been violated, but left to their full opera- 
tion. A provision was also made for the families of those whose estates 
have been confiscated. And although the property of British subjects 
within this State has been confiscated, yet the debts due to them from 
the citizens of this State have been left untouched. And be assured, 
Sir, whilst I have the honor of holding the rank I now do, it shall be 
my particular business to see that this, as well as every other law of 
the State, is executed with lenity, fidelity, and integrity." ^ 

The result of this correspondence left General Greene 
to expect a renewal of the incursions of the enem}^, as well 
from the necessity of procuring supplies as from his threat 
of retaliation on account of the Confiscation Act. Steps, 
indeed, were taken to carry out this purpose. The com- 
missioner of sequestration prepared galleys and other ves- 
sels, which were manned by the dismounted troops, whose 
horses the enemy had been compelled to kill for want of 
forage with which to feed them, and stationed in the 
rivers and creeks contiguous to the valuable estates, to 
cover the shipment of produce in small craft and convey- 
ing these supplies to town. Some of the strongest of 
these vessels were sent thirty miles up the Cooper River.^ 

But while these measures were in preparation, news 
from England came which induced General Leslie to with- 
hold the attempt to carry out his threat. 

On the 22d of February a resolution had been introduced 
in the House of Commons in England, that an address 

1 Ramsay's Revolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 355-364. 

2 Narrative of -John Cruden, Commissioner, Winnowings in Am. Hist., 
Revolutionary Narrative, No. 1. 



636 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

should be presented to his Majesty that he would be 
pleased to give directions to his ministers not to pursue 
any longer the impracticable object of reducing his Majes- 
ty's revolted colonies to their allegiance by a war on the 
continent of America ; and to assure his Majesty that his 
faithful commons would most cheerfully concur with him 
in such measures as might be found necessary to accelerate 
the blessings of returning peace. The resolution, after a 
very warm debate, had been lost — but by only one vote. 
The majority of only one on the side of the ministry proved 
that their influence was at an end ; and when, five days 
after, it was renewed, the resolution was carried without a 
di vision. 1 A few days after a commission passed the great 
seal appointing Sir Guy Carleton commander-in-chief in 
America,^ thus superseding Sir Henry Clinton. Sir Guy 
arrived in New York on the 5th of May,^ and on the 7th 
communicated to General Washington the disposition that 
prevailed in the government and people relative to the 
making of a peace with the Americans.* 

In the meanwhile Congress had, on the 23d of February, 
authorized the commander-in-chief to agree to the ex- 
change of Earl Cornwallis, provided that the Honorable 
Henry Laurens should be liberated, and proper assurances 
given for the exchange of all other prisoners.^ Mr. Lau- 
rens had been released from close confinement in the 
Tower on the 31st of December before, but was under a 
verbal recognizance to appear at the court of King's Bench 
the next Easter term, and not to depart thence without 
leave of the court. Though still a nominal prisoner on parole, 

^ Annual Jiegister, 1782, vol. XXV, 167-168 ; Wraxall's Memoirs, 
vol. II, 511, 522 ; Gordon's Am. War, vol. IV, 229-230 ; Bancroft's Hist, 
of the U.S., vol. V, 530. 

2 Gordon's Am. War, vol. IV, 231. 

«Ibid., 249. 4 Ibid., 291. ^Ibid., 245. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 637 

Mr. Laurens was busy negotiating the treaty of peace 
which he was to sign as one of the commissioners on the 
part of America.^ His actual exchange for Lord Corn- 
wallis was not communicated to General Washington until 
the 2d of August.^ 

When the vote of the British Parliament was communi- 
cated to General Leslie, he proposed to General Greene a 
cessation of hostilities, and that he should be permitted to 
purchase and receive from the planters such subsistence as 
he needed. The subject of a cessation of hostilities Gen- 
eral Greene referred to Congress ; the other subject he re- 
ferred to the governor and council. But their views had 
already been communicated to General Greene in a request 
"that he would by all means in his power prevent supplies 
from going into Charlestown, except so far as his contracts 
respecting clothing made it necessary." This was neces- 
sary, as the State had undertaken to supply the army in 
kind. To have opened a market with Charlestown would 
have been to drain the country immediately, and perhaps 
have protracted the stay of the enemy by lessening his 
inconveniences. General Leslie's offer was therefore, of 
course, rejected, and he thereupon intimated that, however 
anxious he was to discontinue the horrors of war, he would 
take provisions by force wherever they could be obtained, 
and immediately commenced preparation for that purpose. 
To meet this renewal of strife General Greene determined 
to reorganize his forces. General Marion, who had rallied 
his men sufficiently to recross the Santee, was requested to 
strengthen himself so as to meet the enemy in that quarter, 
whilst a strong detachment was formed under General Gist 
of Maryland to cover the country lying south and west of 
the avmy's position. The cavalry of the Legion and that 

1 Mr. Laurens's Narrative, Coll. So. Ca. Hist. Soc, vol, I, 64 et seq. 

2 Gordon's Am. War, vol. IV, 294. 



638 HISTOBY OF SOUTH CAKOLINA 

of the Third and Fourth Virginian regiments united 
under Colonel Baylor ; the infantry of the Legion, the dis- 
mounted dragoons of the Third Regiment, the Delaware 
Regiment, and one hundred men detached from the line 
commanded by Major Beale, the whole infantry under 
the command of Colonel Laurens formed the brigade under 
the command of General Gist.^ Colonel Henderson, who 
had been appointed brigadier-general in the place of Sum- 
ter, was with Pickens, who had returned from his Indian 
campaign, and the militia under these, with Marion, were 
drawn together near the headquarters. 

Scarcely had Marion reached Dorchester, when the 
Loyalists beyond the Pee Dee, with the celebrated Major 
Gainey at their head, once more appeared in arms. On the 
28th of April a party of them, commanded by Captain 
Jones, surrounded and set fire to the house of Colonel 
Kolb of the militia. He, after receiving assurance of being 
treated as a prisoner of war, surrendered ; upon which he 
was immediately put to death in the presence of his wife 
and children. 2 From this time the Tories in this section, 
disregarding the treaty they had made with jNIarion on the 
17th of June, 1781, had become more troublesome, not only 
to the people of this State, but of North Carolina. They 
now appeared in such large force, both cavalry and in- 
fantry, that it became necessary to detach Marion against 
them. At the head of Maham's cavalry — Maham himself 
being a prisoner as already related — Marion proceeded 
upon his mission. General Greene's instructions to him on 
this occasion, which were in consonance with his own senti- 
ments and the tenor of his whole conduct, were to spare 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene.., vol. II, 329. 

2 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 371. Ramsay gives the 
name of the officer in command of this party as "Jones," but James 
gives it as Gibson (James's Life of Marion, 166). 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 639 

the unnecessary effusion of blood.^ And happily these he 
was able to comply with. But little defence was made by 
the Tories ; only one skirmish took place, in which, however, 
Robert James, a friend of the general's, was wounded. 
At Burch's Mill on the Pee Dee, in what is now Marion 
County, about ten miles west of the present town of 
Marion, another treaty was signed on the 8th of June, by 
which Gainey's party agreed to lay down their arms, to 
demean themselves thereafter as peaceable citizens, to 
deliver up all stolen property, to apprehend all who did 
not accede to the treaty now made, to take all deserters 
from the American army, to return them to their allegiance, 
and to abjure that of his Britannic Majesty. From this treaty 
the officer in command of the party who killed Colonel 
Kolb, and a notorious Tory leader in North Carolina named 
Fanning and his party, were excluded, but they escaped. 
Under this treaty at least five hundred men laid down 
their arms to Marion. ^ 

As usual, Marion's absence was the signal for the renewal 
of depredations between the Cooper and the Santee. 
Colonel Ashby had been left in command of the infantry, 
but he had been pressed upon and compelled to retire, so 
that the general was recalled the moment he had quelled 
the insurrection of the Loyalists, to spread his shield once 
more over the country which had so long been the object 
of his protecting care. But had he not been joined by a 
new corps under Major Conyers, he must have come alone. 
His movements had been so rapid that Mahara's corps, 
broken down with fatigue, were necessarily left in his 
rear to recruit ; the militia of the country he had thought 
advisable to leave under Colonel Baxter to hold the 
Loyalists in check, as he doubted their sincerity and 
feared they would rise in force, plunder the country, and 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene., vol. II, 335. 
' James's Life of Marion., 167. 



64:0 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

move down with their spoil to a fleet the enemy had 
been preparing in Charlestown for some enterprise. At 
Murray's Ferry he halted to collect his militia, and 
awaited the arrival of Maham ; then, having under an 
order of the governor consolidated the two commands of 
Maham and Conyers into one regiment, about the middle 
of July he was enabled once more to cross the Santee at 
the head of a respectable cavalry and about three hundred 
infantry. With these he took post on the Wassamasaw 
road, in St. James's, Goose Creek, in a position secure from 
sudden attack, and calculated for easy cooperation with 
the detachment of the main army, in covering the country. 

General Leslie now prepared to carry into effect his 
threat of seizing provisions wherever he could find them, 
and late in July a numerous fleet of small boats, carrying 
eight hundred men and convoyed by galleys and armed 
brigs, issued from Charlestown, destined, as it was thought, 
against Georgetown. Marion was immediately ordered to 
that place.i After a forced march of about four days he 
arrived at White's bridge, but found no enemy in that 
neighborhood. In this march of about 160 miles Marion's 
men had but one ration of rice ; the rest was lean beef.^ 

Georgetown was not the destination of the expedition. 
It was directed to another point. The collection of rice 
was its object, which could best be secured upon the Santee, 
and the enemy succeeded in carrying off from that river 
about six hundred barrels without interruption. Marion's 
force was now thrown over Sampit River so as to overtake 
their march to Georgetown, but it was impossible to pre- 
vent their plunder of the plantations under the guns of 
the galleys. In taking the rice, however, the enemy left 
receipts for the amount taken except in two instances, — 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 334, 336. 

2 James's Life of Mariun, 166. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 641 

one, of the rice taken from the plantation of the estate of 
Thomas Lynch, Jr., who had signed the Declaration of 
Independence ; and the other of Mr. Neyle, who had fallen 
in the siege of Charlestown.i 

The enemy having left the Santee, Marion was ordered 
to take post at Wadboo, as the return of the fleet into port 
suggested the probability of some enterprise up the rivers 
communicating with the town. But their next movement 
was against Combahee, and after depositing the spoil col- 
lected they set sail, and arrived a few days after in the port 
of Beaufort. 

The light brigade, under General Gist, soon after it was 
formed, took a position in advance of the army near the 
Stono. Colonel Laurens, still charged with conducting 
the intercourse of intelligence with his secret agents in 
Charlestown, had a guard assigned him at his own request, 
by order of General Greene, and took a position beyond 
the line of pickets of the brigade, near to Wappoo Creek. 
Here they remained comparatively inactive until intelli- 
gence was received of the sailing of the foraging fleet to 
the southward. 

As General Greene had other channels of communica- 
tion with Charlestown besides those kept open by Laurens, 
he received intelligence of that event a day before it 
reached Colonel Laurens. Orders were immediately 
despatched to General Gist, dated the 23d of August, to 
march to the protection of the country on the Combahee, 
where a quantity of provisions, both public and private, 
was then lying. Not thinking it advisable to withdraw 
Colonel Laurens from a post so highly confidential and 
important as that which he then occupied at Wappoo, 
under the immediate orders of General Greene, Gist moved 
on to the southward without issuing orders to Colonel 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene., vol. II, 336. 

VOL. IV. — 2x 



642 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Laurens to join him. But the ardor of the latter, says 
Johnson, was not to be restrained when the longed-for 
opportunity for enterprise presented itself. In a hurried 
scrawl to Greene of the 24th, probably the last words Colonel 
Laurens ever wrote, conveying the intelligence of the Com- 
bahee expedition, he sa^^s, " I forward you the enclosed 
which I have just received — vague intelligence reached 
me of the march of the light troops — will you be so good 
as to inform me whether anything is likely to be done?" 

It was enough that General Gist was ordered to stiike 
at the enemy. Laurens, though laboring under an ague, 
and actually in bed with it when he heard of Gist's march, 
arose, hurried away, and overtook the brigade on the nortli 
bank of the Combahee River near the ferry. The enemy 
had landed on the opposite side of the river, and the cav- 
alry had been ordered round by the Salkehatchie bridge to 
join the militia, who had collected in that quarter, seek- 
ing an opportunity for striking at tlie enemy. 

Twelve miles below the ferry, on the north side of the 
Combahee, the extreme end of Chehaw Neck approaches 
the bed of the river, which generally between these points 
is bordered by extensive swamps and rice fields. At this 
point General Gist had ordered a work to be thrown up for 
the purpose of annoying the enemy in their retreat, and 
Colonel Laurens solicited the command of the enterprise 
at that post. Fifty infantry with some matrosses and a 
howitzer were ordered out under his command ; and on 
the evening of the 26th he moved down the river, halting 
at a plantation near enough to take post at Chehaw by 
daylight the ensuing morning. 

The night, it is stated, was spent in all the enjoyments 
of hospitality and female society, and the company did not 
separate until two hours before the time when the detach- 
ment must be put in motion. Ere the sun rose upon 



IN THE REVOLUTION 643 

Laurens the next morning he was a stiffened corpse, and 
his two companions of the evening's festivity lay wounded 
in the field. 

The enemy were disappointed in their expectation of 
collecting rice on the south side of the Combahee ; all that 
could be spared from the subsistence of the people had 
been drawn from that side of the river for the use of 
Wayne's army in Georgia, which had been supplied alto- 
gether from Carolina. The light brigade arrived in time 
to prevent their foraging on the north side ; and upon the 
advance of the militia and cavalry and the commencement 
of the work below them, their troops were silently em- 
barked in the night, and, by slipping their anchors and 
dropping down with the tide, the departure of the vessels 
from their moorings was not perceived until four o'clock in 
the morning. 

General Gist immediately anticipated the danger to 
which Laurens was exposed, and despatching an express 
to him with the intelligence, and being joined by his cav- 
alry, which had swum the river the preceding evening, he 
moved off with all possible expedition at their head to the 
support of Laurens, leaving orders for his infantry to 
hasten after him. But the mischief was already done. 
The enemy had either received information of the march- 
ing of the detachment, or had rightly concluded that the 
brigade, or a detachment from it, would be hastened on to 
Chehaw to annoy them in their retreat. Landing, there- 
fore, on the north bank of the river, and pushing into the 
road that communicates with the Point, a British officer, 
with a detachment of 140 men, lay in ambuscade in 
a place covered with fennel and high grass, and were 
undiscovered until they rose to fire on the unsuspecting 
Laurens. 

At three o'clock in the morning Laurens had commenced 



G44 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

his march, and altogether unsuspicious of danger, he was 
on horseback with his advanced guard when the enemy- 
was discovered. His decision was promptly taken not to 
retreat or surrender ; the only alternative the case admitted 
of was a daring charge. Laurens dashed forward, calling 
on his men to follow. But he fell at the first fire, as did 
also Captain Smith of the artillery, and the men were 
thrown into confusion. 

The howitzer fell into the enemy's hands, and the infan- 
try had retreated in confusion a quarter of a mile when 
they were met by General Gist. The enemy soon discon- 
tinued the pursuit, and drew up under cover of a wood 
near the border of the river. An attempt was made to 
dislodge them from this after the infantry came up, but it 
failed and was attended with some loss. The British force 
was covered by logs and brush, so as to be inaccessible to 
cavalry, and their force in infantry was much beyond that 
of Gist's command. Nothing was recovered on their 
debarkation except the horses of the artillery. 

The enemy sustained no loss on this occasion that was 
known. That of the Americans was, for their small force, 
very serious. Besides Colonel Laurens, a corporal of the 
Legion cavalry was killed, three commissioned officers, 
sixteen rank and file were wounded, and three missing, 
probably made prisoners. 

It was with extreme affliction, says Johnson, whose 
account of this action has been followed, that General 
Greene heard of the fall of Colonel Laurens. He had 
been chagrined (and had expressed it) at his leaving a 
post and an employment so critically important, at this 
juncture, to the safety of the army ; for ii was when 
Marion had his hands full with Fraser and the enemy was 
threatening an attack on their weakened army ; when 
intelligence from town was all important and honor 



IN THE REVOLUTION G45 

required that the personal security of his secret agents 
should not be confided to any other man than him whom 
they had trusted ; and when the direct route to surprise 
Greene or to throw troops in the rear of Gist was by 
Wappoo — that Colonel Laurens had left his post, simply 
contenting himself with announcing "that he would return 
with all possible expedition." But ever}^ other feeling 
with the general, it is said, was absorbed in profound grief 
for his loss, for it was not only a gallant soldier and a tried 
patriot that had fallen, but an amiable companion, a fast 
friend, and one of whose influence and popularity in the 
State his army had great need, had been cut off at a most 
critical period.^ 

General Greene's criticism upon Laurens's conduct, 
which ended so tragically, unhappily was most just. Lau- 
rens's ambition to be foremost in any fray had led him into 
a gross violation of soldierly duty, the abandonment of an 
important post which imperilled the safety and honor of 
others. But the world forgives much where personal 
bravery induces the fault and death follows its commis- 
sion. In announcing his fall in general orders to the 
army, General Greene says : " His fall was glorious, but his 
fate is much to be lamented. The army has lost a brave 
officer and the public a worthy citizen." In a private let- 
ter he justly said: "Poor Laurens has fallen in a paltry 
little skirmish. You knew his temper and I predicted his 
fate. The love of military glory made him seek it upon 
occasions unworthy of his rank. The State will feel his 
loss." This rashness in the pursuit of military glory, it 
will be remembered, had three years before, during Pro- 
vost's invasion, within but a few miles of the scene of this 
disastrous affair, led him to a similar violation of orders in 
crossing the Tullifiny and attacking the enemy, instead 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 339, 341. 



646 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

merely of covering the retreat of the rear guard as directed 
by Moultrie. Then he had escaped with only a severe 
wound and the expression of Moultrie's displeasure. Now 
he falls, and his country forgets all but that he died bravely 
in her defence.^ 

1 The two Laurenses, father and son, — Henry and John, — were the 
most conspicuous figures from South Carolina in and near the congres- 
sional government during the Revolution. They were the great national 
figures from South Carolina, as the term would now be applied. The old 
delegates who had taken so prominent a part in Congress prior to the 
Declaration of Independence were no longer present in its hall. Gadsden 
had been first detained at Charlestown in the military service, and then 
in exile and in prison. John Rutledge, as president and then governor of 
the State, had had his hands full at home. Henry Middleton, an old man, 
had retired, and his son Arthur was with Gadsden in exile. The two 
Lynches, father and son, were both dead. Edward Rutledge and Thomas 
Hey ward, Jr., were also in exile. William Henry Drayton, with his great 
abilities and restless energies, had been transferred with Henry Laurens 
from the Council of Safety of the State to Congress,but he, too, had died, 
leaving Laurens the only one of the old Revolutionary set in its halls. 
There he had taken a high and leading position, becoming President of 
the Congress, as the position of what was then the presidency of the 
United States was styled. He was President during a most eventful 
period. It was during his presidency, 1777-1778, that the Articles of Con- 
federation were adopted, that the offers of the British Peace Commission 
were received and rejected, that the treaty with France was made. 
Then he was appointed minister plenipotentiary from the United States 
to Holland, and on his voyage was captured by the British and thrown 
into the Tower of London, where he was held for the rest of the war as 
the most important State prisoner in the power of the Royal government, 
and ultimately exchanged for Lord Cornwallis, the most important British 
personage in the hands of the Americans. He repaired to Paris where, 
with Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay, he signed the pre- 
liminaries of peace, on the 30th of November, 1782, by which the inde- 
pendence of the United States was acknowledged. And so it happened 
that the name of Henry Laurens is found inscribed upon some of the 
most striking and important State papers in the history of the country, 
to wit : to the adoption of the Articles of Confederation in 1778, to the 
treaty with France in the same year, and to the treaty with Great Britain 
in 1782, by which the independence of the United States was secured. 

The career of his son, John Laurens, was scarcely less distinguished 



IN THE REVOLUTION 647 

It is remarkable that in all the fighting that had been 
done in South Carolina during the last three years, that 

in the history of the country at large. Born in 1755 and educated in 
Europe — in Geneva and London — he was a student of law at the 
Temple when the Revolution began, when, making his way home with 
difficulty, in 1777, then but twenty-two years of age, — no doubt through 
the influence of his father, at the time President of the Congress, — he 
was at once taken into the military family of General Washington. His 
position near Washington was doubtless owing, as we say, to his father's 
influence, then so great ; but John Laurens was not one to owe his reten- 
tion in any position to the favor of another, though that other was his 
own father. He soon found opportunities of distinguishing himself in the 
battles of Germantown and Monmouth ; then allowed to attach himself, 
in 1778, to the army in Rhode Island, where the most active service was 
expected in the final operations of the French under D'Estaing, and the 
Americans under Sullivan, he so distinguished himself in command of 
some light troops with which he was intrusted that, as we have had occa^ 
sion to state in a preceding volume, he was by resolution of Congress 
given the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Continental line at the early 
age of twenty-three years. Hastening to his native State when the tide of 
war turned upon her, we have seen his conspicuous conduct in resisting 
the invasion of the British under Provost, have seen him the first to 
mount the British redoubt at Savannah, and taking part in defence of 
Charlestown in 1780. Taken a prisoner upon the capitulation of the city, 
he was soon released, his exchange having been expedited by Congress for 
the ulterior purpose of sending him as a special minister to Paris, " that he 
might urge the necessity of a more vigorous cooperation on the part of 
France." This, it will be recollected, was the crucial period when the 
French fleet and army, previously sent under deTernay and Rochambeau, 
lay cooped up at Newport by the ascendency of the British in American 
waters, and the only obstacle to the prosecution and perhaps fulfilment of the 
British ministerial plan of carrying the war "from the South to the North," 
lay in the uprising of the people of the Carolinas and Georgia, and the 
splendid service of the partisan bands. We have seen John Laurens, in 
1778, refusing the promotion tendered him by Congress, lest it might 
give rise to jealousies in others, and thus disturb the harmony of officers 
of the line and his colleagues in the family of the commander-in-chief. 
So now, again, acting from the same generous and noble purpose, he rec- 
ommended and urged that Alexander Hamilton should be sent in pref- 
erence to himself. Congress, however, adhered to their first choice, and 
John Laurens was, on the 23d of December, 1780, commissioned special 



648 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Colonel Laurens was but the second Continental officer of 
as high a rank as that of lieutenant-colonel who had fallen, 

minister at the court of Versailles, aud sailed for France. Within six 
months from the day Colonel Laurens left America he returned, and 
brought with him the conceded plan of combined operations, which ended 
at Yorktown. Garden tells the following anecdote, upon the authority 
of William Jackson, the secretary of the legation, of Laurens's conduct in 
this mission, which, however apocryphal, illustrates, at least, the energy 
with which Laurens acted, if at the expense of his real diplomatic skill, 
to which his success was more probably really owing .- — 

" When sent by Congress to negotiate a loan from the French govern- 
ment (for that was a part of his mission), although his reception was 
favorable and encouragement given that his request would be granted, 
yet the delays perpetually contrived by the minister, the Count de Ver- 
gennes, afforded little prospect of immediate success. Convinced that 
procrastination would be a death-blow to Independence, he resolved, in 
defiance of all the etiquette of the court, to make a personal appeal to the 
King. Dr. Franklin, our minister at Versailles, vehemently opposed his 
intention, and, finding Laurens firm in his purpose, he said, ' I most cor- 
dially wish you success, but anticipate so diffei-ent a result, that I warn 
you — I wash my hands of the consequences.' Accordingly, at the first 
levee. Colonel Laurens, walking directly up to the King, delivered a me- 
morial to which he solicited his most serious attention, and said, ' Should 
the favor asked be denied, or even delayed, there is cause to fear that the 
sword which I wear may no longer be drawn in the defence of the liberties 
of my country, but be wielded as a British subject against the Monarchy 
of France.' His decision met with the reward it merited. Apologies were 
made for delays. The minister gave his serious attention to the subject, 
and the negotiations were crowned with success." 

And so it was that while Sumter and Marion and their volunteer- 
partisan followers in South Carolina were desperately throwing themselves 
across the path of the invader who was hurrying on in his triumphal march 
to reach the Chesapeake before the further assistance could be obtained 
from France, another son of the State in Paris, disregarding form and 
ceremony, was demanding and extorting from the king of France, the 
promised but long-delayed assistance. Sumter and Marion in the hills and 
swamps of South Carolina, and John Laurens in Paris, were all uncon- 
s;;iously, yet in support of each other, simultaneously playing great parts 
in the same great drama in which the future of the whole United States 
of America was at stake. 

Upon his return from Paris, immediately joining the army and resum- 
ing his place as one of the aides of General Washington, Colonel Laurens 



IN THE REVOLUTION 649 

the first having been Colonel Owen Roberts of the artillery, 
who fell at Stono. 

From the Combahee the enemy passed into Broad River, 
in what is now Beaufort County, and successively ascended 
the smaller streams communicating with it, carrying off 
with them all the provisions and live-stock they could col- 
lect. From thence they put into Beaufort harbor and laid 
the islands of Beaufort and St. Helena under contribution. 

In the meantime, however, a party of infantry posted at 
Wadboo attracted the attention of the enemy. Marion 
was supposed to be in Georgetown with the cavalry. The 
rapidity of his movements had prevented the knowledge of 
his return, and the party there was supposed to be only 
that under Ashby. Early on the morning of the 29th of 
August Marion received intelligence of the advance of 
Major Fraser with about a hundred dragoons, with the 
intent, as it was reported, to surprise his pickets, above him 
at Biggin bridge and below him at Strawberry Ferry. 
It happened unfortunately that his cavalry were at the time 
absent patrolling down the river; but messengers were 

took part in the siege of Yorktown, whicli he had done so much to render 
possible by hastening, if not procuring, the coming of the second 
French fleet under De Grasse ; and in the final struggle of the siege, 
with Colonel Hamilton, he led the storming parties of the American 
forces, and he at the head of eighty men, turned the redoubt, taking 
the garrison in reverse, and intercepting their retreat. Then with the 
Viscount de Noailles, representing the French, he, representing the 
Americans, had negotiated the terms of Cornwallis's surrender. Hence, 
probably, the inspiration of their requiring of his lordship the same 
terms as had been required of Lincoln at his surrender of Charlestown. 
So John Laurens negotiated the terms of Cornwallis's surrender, which 
released his father, Henry Laurens, from the Tower in exchange, and 
enabled his father to take part in negotiating the treaty with Great 
Britain acknowledging the independence of the Thirteen States. 

Then hurrying back to his own State where the war still lingered, John 
Laurens again took the field to perish in an insignificant affair with which 
he had no call or duty to take part. 



650 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

immediately despatched to call in both the cavalry and the 
pickets, and some of the latter had joined him before the 
enemy appeared. It was not without some uneasiness that 
Marion prepared to receive the enemy, for the greatest part 
of his force consisted of what was then called new-made 
Whigs. These were the men who had left the enemy in 
consequence of Governor Rutledge's proclamation offering 
pardon to all, with certain exceptions, who would leave 
the enemy within a specified time, and join the American 
forces. But perhaps, as it has been observed, he could not 
have had a set of men to command more deeply interested 
in securing themselves by victory against the British ven- 
geance. It is not probable that any one, if taken and recog- 
nized by the enemy, would have escaped military execution. 

The enemy, having taken some of Marion's outposts, 
and approached by an unfrequented route, advanced upon 
him in full confidence of all the advantages of a surprise ; 
but they found him ready, drawn up to meet them, his 
main body in an avenue of trees before the house of Dr. 
Fayssoux, and his left, by which the enemy must approach, 
advanced a few paces under cover of some small buildings. 
The latter were ordered to reserve their fire until the 
enemy approached within thirty yards, and the main body 
to reserve theirs until further orders. 

The enemy came on at a full charge, but Marion's troops 
behaved with coolness ; and when the left delivered their 
fire as ordered, the enemy recoiled in confusion, leaving a 
captain and several men and horses dead upon the field. 
They soon rallied, and attempted to turn his right and 
then his left flank ; but by changing his front, and avail- 
ing himself of the cover of the buildings and fences, 
he rendered it too hazardous for the enemy to attempt a 
second charge, and they retired on the route that leads by 
Quinby to Daniel's Island. 



IN THE KEVOLDTION 651 

A single fire terminated this action, but it had seldom 
happened that a single fire had done equal execution on 
the same number of men. One officer and eight men 
were killed, three officers and eight men were wounded. 
Five horses fell dead on the field, a few were taken, and 
many wounded. The Americans sustained no loss in 
men, but a very severe loss of another kind. The driver 
of their ammunition wagon took fright, and made off 
with his charge in a direction which enabled the enemy to 
capture it. Marion soon discovered his loss, but was with- 
out cavalry to retrieve it. A party of five men on captured 
horses attempted it, but failed. Soon after the enemy 
moved off jNIajor Conyers arrived with his cavalry ; but 
before he could overtake them, Major Fraser had formed a 
junction with a detachment of infantry that had advanced 
up the Wando to support him, and Marion's loss of ammu- 
nition obliged him to retreat once more towards Santee. 
Here ended Marion's warfare.^ During the remainder of 
the summer he frequently changed his encampments from 
place to place between the Cooper and the Santee rivers, 
with three objects in view, — to cut off supplies from the 
enemy, to prevent all surprises from their sudden irrup- 
tions, and to provide for his own men. His scouting 
parties still penetrated into St. Thomas's Parish as far as 
Daniel's Island and Clement's Ferry on the Cooper. At 
the head of one of these, Captain G. S. Capers performed 
a gallant action. Having the command of only twelve 
men, he encountered a party of twenty-six British black 
dragoons, and cut them to pieces. They had at the time 
two or three of his neighbors in handcuffs as prisoners.^ 

General Gist, though reenforced by a six-pounder with 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. 11, 336-338 ; James's Life of Marion, 
168, 169. 

2 James's ii/e of Marion, 169. 



652 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

some matrosses and infantry, did not venture to cross the 
Combahee until, by the enemy's landing troops on Beaufort 
and St. Helena islands, he was satisfied it was not a feint 
to draw him off from covering the provisions on the north 
of the Combahee. On the 2d of September he crossed 
the river and pressed down to Port Royal Ferry. There 
he found the Balfour and another galley lying, and having 
gained an advantageous position for his field-piece, Lieu- 
tenant Bocker, who commanded it, soon made the galleys 
slip their cables and attempt to escape. In this the Bal- 
four galley ran aground and was abandoned by the crew. 
The crew did not leave without scuttling the vessel and 
spiking her guns, but this was done so hastily that she 
was easily repaired and secured under the guns of the 
brigade. 

The enemy was recalled on the 6th by the arrival of 
a fleet to convoy the army, which it had now been officially 
announced would soon evacuate the city. As soon as the 
enemy passed the bar of Beaufort, General Gist hastened 
back to reenforce the main army, and nothing more 
occurred during the war in which this brigade was en- 
gaged. But this expedition in the rice fields in the 
months of August and September had nearly invalided the 
whole of these troops. The general himself did not escape, 
and the number on the sick list was greatly increased on 
their return to camp. 

When General Leslie's foraging expeditions set out, the 
one to Wadboo, and the other to Combahee, in the hope 
of recalling them. General Greene put his whole army in 
motion down the Ashley road, feigning a design on James 
Island, while Pickens, at the head of the militia, was 
ordered down between the Ashley and the Cooper to 
draw the attention of the enemy to his post at the Quarter 
House. The feint did not succeed in its principal object. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 653 

but their posts at the Quarter House and on the islands 
were abandoned, and the troops drawn in under the pro- 
tection of their redoubts. General Pickens continued in 
command of his own brigade and General Henderson's 
until September, when he organized and conducted a last 
expedition against the Indians on the frontier, who had 
again become troublesome.-^ 

When the British general, Clarke, in Savannah, found 
his bounds contracted by General Wayne's movements, he 
sent expresses to the Creek and Cherokee nations request- 
ing assistance of the Indian allies. This assistance was 
provided by some of the leading warriors of both nations, 
but Pickens's expedition in April had disconcerted the 
movement. Though the grand council did not sanction 
a continuance of the war in alliance with the British, 
whose power they saw was rapidly passing away, a few 
warriors determined to comply with the promises made, 
and three hundred Creeks, headed by Guvistersigo, who 
stood high in the opinion of his countrymen for bravery 
and military skill, set out from the nations for Savannah 
early in the month of June. So stealthily did these war- 
riors approach, that but for an accidental change of his 
camp, General Wayne would have been captured by them. 
A smart action took place on the 23d of June in which 
Guvistersigo with seventeen of his warriors and white 
guides were left dead on the field, and twelve taken pris- 
oners, who were shot a few hours after by order of Gen- 
eral Wayne. The American loss was only four killed and 
eight wounded. 

As the limits of the British lines became more and more 
contracted, a number of those who adhered to the Royal 
cause were unwilling to be confined within their narrow- 
ing circle, and General Clarke conceived that they could 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 346. 



654 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

render him an essential service by retiring to the Cherokee 
Nation. At the head of these was one Colonel Thomas 
Waters, who had formed a settlement on Hightown River 
at the mouth of Longswamp Creek, in what is now Wilkes 
County, Georgia, where they had collected a number of 
negroes, horses, cattle, and other property, which they had 
plundered from the frontiers of Georgia and Carolina. 

To break up this banditti, General Pickens now applied 
to Governor Mathews to be allowed to carry another 
expedition into the Cherokee Nation. His scheme was 
approved, and an express sent to Colonel Elijah Clarke 
of Georgia, on the 5th of September, requesting the aid 
of a part of his regiment, and fixed on the 16th at Long 
Creek, as the time and place of rendezvous with 30 days' 
provision. This was agreed to, and General Pickens, 
with 316 men, joined Colonel Clarke accordingly, who 
had 98, including 10 volunteers from Richmond County, 
making in the whole 414, including officers. 

The general marched on the morning of the 19th in a 
westerly direction for the Chattahoochie River, which he 
reached and crossed on the 24th at Beaver Shoal. Pursuing 
their course on a small Indian trail, they met two Indians 
who were taken prisoners. From these they learned that 
there were several Indian towns within the distance of ten 
or twelve miles, and from thence Colonel Waters's party 
was about twenty miles. The general thereupon detached 
Colonel Robert Anderson with one hundred men, guided 
by one of the Indian prisoners, to destroy the villages and 
towns upon the river. Colonel White was ordered down 
the river with a detachment for a similar purpose, while 
General Pickens with Colonel Clarke took a more direct 
course for Colonel Waters's position, the destruction of which 
was the principal object of the expedition ; but Waters 
had received information of Pickens's approach just in time 



IN THE REVOLUTION 655 

to escape with his party. A few Indians were killed and a 
number of women and children were taken prisoners. An- 
derson and White joined the main bod}^ in the afternoon, 
having killed eight Indians and destroyed a number of 
towns. 

General Pickens sent out some of his prisoners in search 
of the chiefs, offering terms with assurances that no more 
towns would be destroyed if they would surrender the 
white people among them, and enter into a treaty of peace. 
In the meantime he marched from one town to another, 
procuring supplies of provisions and forage for his men. 
Several of the chiefs met in the mountains and sent one of 
their head men, called the Terrapin, with a party of war- 
riors and six of Waters's men prisoners, promising that 
every exertion should be made to bring in the others. On 
the 8th of October Colonel Clarke marched from Selacoa 
with one hundred men in pursuit of Waters who had halted 
on the Estanala River about sixty miles west of Long Swamp ; 
but Waters, hearing of his advance, retreated through the 
Creek Nation and made his way to St. Augustine. On 
the same day Captain Maxwell's company marched to 
Estanala town where he took twenty-four negroes, the 
principal part of whom had been plundered by Waters's 
party from the inhabitants of Georgia and Carolina, a num- 
ber of horses, and a quantity of pelfry with which he 
returned on the seventh day. 

Finally a number of chiefs came in and proposed to Gen- 
eral Pickens while he was at Selacoa to hold a treaty at 
Long Swamp on the 17th, to which he agreed. On the 
day appointed twelve chiefs and two hundred warriors ap- 
peared and entered into temporary articles of treaty, which 
were afterwards to be confirmed by the whole nation at 
such time and place as the governor of Georgia should 
appoint. 



65Q HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

By this treaty all the lands claimed by the Cherokees 
south of Savannah River and east of the Chattahoochee 
were to be surrendered to the State of Georgia as the price 
of peace. The Indian trade was opened upon terms not 
less advantageous to the Indians than that which had 
previously been carried on between them and the British 
government. The articles being signed by the parties, 
General Pickens returned to his former position of Long 
Creek, where the troops were discharged on the 22d of 
October, and returned to their homes without the loss of 
one man. 

General Pickens carried with his command not a tent or 
any other description of camp equipage. After the small 
])ortion of bread which they could carry in their saddle- 
bags was exhausted, his men lived upon parched corn, 
potatoes, peas, and beef, which they collected in the Indian 
towns ; salt they had none. 

Early in the succeeding year the governor of Georgia 
invited the Cherokee chiefs to Augusta, and finally con- 
cluded the articles of treaty which had been temporarily 
entered into by General Pickens.^ 

All the blood to be lost in South Carolina in the strug- 
gle for American independence was not yet shed, but 
these were the last military operations of any consequence 
in the war. 

iMcCall's Hist, of Ga., vol. II, 408-414. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

1782 

The British administration having resolved upon aban- 
doning offensive operations in America, the scheme of 
evacuating the weaker posts in the United States was 
adopted. Savannah, which had been the first Southern 
post to fall, was the first to be relieved. It was evacuated 
on the 11th of July.^ A heavy firing off the bar on the 
morning of the 6th of September announced the arrival of 
Sir Samuel Hood with a fleet to convoy and cover the 
evacuation of Charlestown. It was the arrival of this fleet 
which recalled Leslie's foraging expeditions from Wadboo 
and Beaufort. It was three months, however, before the 
evacuation did actually take place. 

During the possession of the city by the British, a num- 
ber of merchants had come from England and established 
themselves in business. These were now in a most unfor- 
tunate position. They had entered into extensive com- 
mercial engagements. Those of their debtors who were 
without the lines were not subject to British jurisdiction ; 
those who were within were unable to pay. Surrounded 
with difficulties, and threatened with bankruptcy should 
they leave the State with the British troops, they applied 
to General Leslie and obtained leave to negotiate for them- 
selves. A deputation of the body waited on Governor 
Mathews and obtained from him permission to reside in 

1 Gordon's Am. War, vol. IV, 300-301 ; Ramsay's Eevolution in 
So. Co., vol. II, 309. 

VOL. IV. — 2u 657 



668 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

South Carolina for eighteen months after the evacuation, 
with the right to dispose of their stock of goods on hand, 
and to collect the debts already due them, — an indulgence 
which was extended to a longer term by the legislature at 
their next meeting, before information was received that 
the preliminary articles of peace had been signed.^ 

When the long-expected evacuation drew near, the citi- 
zens of the State were apprehensive that the British army, 
on its departure, would carry off with them the thousands 
of negroes who were within their lines. To prevent this 
Governor Mathews wrote to General Leslie, on the 17th of 
August, warning him "that if the property of the citizens 
of South Carolina was carried off by the British army, he 
should seize on the debts due to the British merchants and 
to the confiscated estates, and the claims on those estates 
by marriage settlements, which three articles were not 
included in the Confiscation Act." This announcement 
operated to some extent as a check on this plunder, and 
induced General Leslie to propose a negotiation for secur- 
ing the property of both parties. This was agreed to, and 
Benjamin Guerard and Edward Rutledge were appointed 
commissioners in behalf of the State, and Alexander Wright 
and James Johnson in behalf of the Royalists. On the 10th 
of October these commissioners agreed to the following 
articles : ^ — 

" First, that all the slaves of the citizens of South Carolina, now in 
the power of the honourable Lieutenant General Leslie, shall be re- 
stored to their former owners, as far as is practicable, except such 
slaves as may have rendered themselves particulaily obnoxious on 
account of their attachment and services to the British troops, and 
such as had specific promises of freedom. 

1 Gordon's Am. War, vol. IV, 301 ; Kamsay's BevoluUon in So. Ca., 
vol. II, 371-372. 

'•^ Ramsay's BevoluUon in So. Ca., vol. II, 376-378. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 659 

" That the faith of the State is hereby solemnly pledged, that none 
of the debts due to British merchants, or to persons who have been 
banished, or whose estates have been confiscated, or property secured 
by family settlements fairly made on contracts relative thereto, 
shall now, or at any time hereafter, be arrested or withheld by the 
executive authority of the State — that no act of the Legislature shall 
hereafter pass for confiscating or seizing the same in any manner what- 
ever, if it is in the power of the executive to prevent it — and that its 
whole power and influence, both in its public and in private capacity, 
shall at all times be exerted for that purpose. 

" That the same power shall be allowed for the recovery of the debts 
and property, hereby protected and secured by the parties or their 
representatives, in the courts of justice, or otherwise, as citizens of the 
State may at any time be entitled unto, notwithstanding any act of 
confiscation or banishment, or any other disability whatever, and 
that this same may be remitted to whatever part of the world they 
may think proper, under the same, and no other, regulations than 
the citizens of the State may be subject to. 

" That no slaves restored to their former owners, by virtue of this 
agreement, shall be punished by authority of the State for having 
left their masters, and attached themselves to the British troops; and 
it will be particularly recommended to their respective owners to 
forgive them for the same. 

" That no violence or insult shall be offered to the persons or houses 
of the families of such persons as are obliged to leave the State for 
their adherence to the British government, when the American army 
shall take possession of the town, or at any time afterwards, as far as 
it is in the power of those in authority to prevent it. 

" That Edward Blake and Roger Parker Saunders, Esquires, be 
permitted to reside in Charleston, on their parole of honor to assist 
in the execution of the first article of this compact." 

In consequence of this agreement Governor Mathews 
commissioned Thomas Ferguson and Thomas Waring to 
reside at Accabee near the British lines to receive and 
forward the negroes which should be recovered by Messrs. 
Blake and Sanders in the city. The owners of the ne- 
groes were to attend at Accabee to receive them, and 
Governor Mathews earnestly entreated that the negroes so 



660 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

restored should be forgiven for having deserted their mas- 
ters and joined the British. Great were the expectations of 
the citizens that under this arrangement they would soon 
obtain possession of their property. But in their hopes 
they were disappointed. 

Messrs. Blake and Sanders, having waited on General 
Leslie, were permitted to examine the fleet bound to St. 
Augustine, but were not suffered to examine any vessel that 
wore the king's pennant. Instead of an examination, the 
word of the commanding officer to restore all the slaves 
that were on board in violation of the compact was offered 
as an equivalent. In their search of the fleet bound to 
St. Augustine, they found and claimed 136 negroes ; but 
when they attended to receive them no more than 73 
were landed for deliver}'. Upon their demand for the 
remainder, they were informed by General Leslie that no 
negroes would be delivered till three soldiers that had 
been taken by a party of General Greene's army were 
restored. 

General Leslie's adjutant general, on the 18th of October, 
addressed a communication to Messrs. Blake and Sanders, 
complaining that a large patrol from General Greene's 
army, two days before, had come down so near his advanced 
post on Charlestown Neck as to carry off three soldiers who 
were a little way in the front, while Mr. Ferguson and 
another person were at Accabee to receive the negroes, 
without any other sanction but that of the agreement ; and 
declaring that, if a line of conduct so different from theirs 
was adopted, it must put an end to the pacific intention of 
General Leslie in regard to the Province during the short 
time he was to remain in it. He demanded the return of 
the soldiers, and announced that until this was done he 
was under the necessity of putting a stop to the further 
completion of the agreement. 



IN THE EE VOLUTION 661 

This letter was forwarded to Governor Mathews, who 
replied the next day to General Leslie, in person, that he 
had not been without apprehensions of an intended evasion 
of the compact, but on receipt of this letter no room 
was left for doubt, which obliged him, without giving fur- 
ther trouble to those engaged in the business and intro- 
ducing further altercation, to declare that he looked on 
the agreement as dissolved and had accordingly ordered 
his commissioners to quit the British lines. ^ 

The distinguishing fault of Governor Mathews, it was 
said, was a hasty temper, and it was thought that a little 
more temporizing in managing this affair would either 
have secured a number of slaves or put the enemy so much 
in fault as to furnish strong ground for demanding an 
indemnity of their government after peace. The saving 
clause, " except such as had rendered themselves obnoxious 
by services rendered the enemy, and such as had been ex- 
pressly promised their freedom,'''' would itself, however, have 
furnished abundant ground for carrying off a large number. 
Scarcely an officer or his wife or mistress was without one 
or more of the planters' slaves, to whom no doubt they 
would all have promised freedom ; and there were many 
who, if they had not been actually in arms, had been em- 
ployed in various services that relieved the British soldiers. 
Thus five hundred were shipped to New York to be used 
as pioneers, and Colonel Moncrief is said to have had eight 
hundred employed in all the numerous duties of the engi- 
neer and ordinance departments, and to have taken them 
all off with him when he sailed. It is also confidently 
asseited of this officer that, after shipping them as king's 
men, he sold them in the West Indies as his own property. 
It is highly probable, as it has been observed, that after 
entering into this treaty General Leslie found it exceed- 
1 Ramsay's Hevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 379-380. 



662 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

ingly difficult to carry it into execution. Opposition must 
have met him in every quarter, not only from avarice and 
party interest, but from the great number of amorous con- 
nections well known to have existed. And finally, there 
can be little doubt that multiplied evasions of his authority 
took place to effect the shipping of innumerable individuals. 
An instance is cited of the body of a suffocated slave, 
headed up in a rice barrel, drifting into the market dock 
the day that the fleet crossed the bar.^ 

Upon Colonel Laurens's death the confidential services 
upon the lines were committed to Count Kosciuszko, who 
was scarcely less eager for enterprises than Laurens him- 
self had been. The successful issue of one of these 
brought General Greene in conflict with the governor 
and council of the State. 

After the enemy had retired under the guns of their 
redoubts, they were obliged daily to drive their cattle to 
pasture on Charlestown Neck under a strong guard. A 
number of their cavalry horses also, particularly those of 
the Loyalists, were placed on James Island, where they 
were secured at night near the fort and by day driven out 
to pasture. Kosciuszko attempted to seize and secure 
both of these, and though he found the cattle too well 
guarded for his small force, succeeded in bringing off a 
number of very fine horses. These horses were committed 
to the quartermaster-general to be sold, and after making 
a compensation to the soldiers, the balance of the proceeds 
was directed to be placed in the public coffers. But it 
happened that among the captured horses were a number 
that were claimed by citizens as horses that had been 
plundered from them by the enemy. The governor was 
instructed by the council to demand that these horses 

1 Ramsay's BevohUion in So. Ca., vol. II, .384; Moultrie's Memoirs, 
vol. II, 351 ; Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 369. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 663 

should be restored to the owners on a salvage of one 
fourth, the rate, it will be recollected, established by Gen- 
eral Sumter when endeavoring to reorganize the military 
force of the State while it was without a government. 
This General Greene refused to do, claiming the horses 
for Congress. A very warm and, it is said, learned dis- 
cussion followed, turning upon the doctrine of the right 
of postliminium in which it was claimed that General 
Greene displayed a perfect acquaintance with the best 
civilians.^ If so well acquainted with the civil law upon 
the subject, it is a pity that, in a matter of so much deli- 
cacy, for the sake of a few dollars, he should have insisted 
upon the strict letter of a technical rule, against the 
spirit and reason of the rule itself, and against the opinion 
of so eminent a lawyer and statesman as Colonel Charles 
Cotesworth Pinckney. 

The right of postliminium is defined by Vattel to be 
that in virtue of which persons and things taken by an 
enemy are restored to their former state on coming again 
into the power of the nation to which they belonged. ^ 
It is a right recognized by the laws of nations, and con- 
tributes essentially to mitigate the calamities of war. 
When, therefore, property taken by the enemy is either 
recaptured or rescued from him by the fellow-subjects or 
allies of the original owner, it does not become the 
property of the recaptor or rescuer, as if it had been a 
new prize, but it is restored to the original owner by 
right oi postliminium upon certain terms.^ Naturally, says 
Vattel, every kind of property might be recovered by the 
right oi postliminium, and there is no intrinsic reason why 
movables should be excepted in this case, provided they 

^ Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 344. 

2 Vattel, B. Ill, ch. XIV, § 204. 

8 Kent's Commentaries, yo\. 1 (12th ed.), 109. 



664 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

can be certainly recognized and identified. Accordingly 
the ancients, on recovering such things, frequently re- 
stored them to their former owners. But the difficulty of 
recognizing things of this nature, and the endless dis- 
putes which would arise from the prosecution of the 
owners' claims to them, have been deemed motives of 
sufficient weight for the general establishment of a contrary 
practice. Movables, therefore, says Chancellor Kent, are 
not entitled by the strict rules of the laws of nations to 
the full benefit of the postlimini/, unless retaken from the 
enemy promptly after capture ; the original owner then 
neither finds a difficulty in recognizing his property nor 
is presumed to have relinquished it. 

It was upon this technical exception to a general rule, 
the reason of which did not apply in this case, that Gen- 
eral Greene chose to stand, and to withhold the return of 
property the ownership of which was admitted. It was 
peculiarly unfortunate, too, that the dispute should have 
arisen about this particular class of property. As has 
appeared in the course of this history, the people of South 
Carolina, like those in Virginia, were devoted to their 
horses, and prided themselves upon their racers and riding 
animals. Wills are still on record in Charlestown whereby 
slaves were given their freedom for having saved their 
masters' horses from capture by the enemy.^ And unfortu- 
nately, it had happened that several collisions had already 
occurred in regard to the taking of horses in each of these 
States. The impressment of blooded stock in Virginia 
for the purpose ostensibly of public use, but, as was 
charged, for the gratification of officers, had led to serious 
difficulties in that State. ^ Colonel Lee's desire to appro- 
priate the best of the horses taken by Marion had led to 

1 Hist, of So. Ca. under the Boy. Gov. (McCrady), 524, 525. 

2 Johnson's Life of Oreene, vol. II, p. 41. 



! 



IN THE REVOLUTION 665 

the tender of the latter's resignation ; and one of the rea- 
sons for which Sumter had tendered his was because, by 
the terms of Maxwell's surrender of Fort Granby, Lee had 
allowed that officer to march out with his men mounted 
on horses stolen from Sumter's people. The corrupt 
practice by which the officers of the Continental cavalry 
had appropriated the best horses, and were in the habit 
of trading in them, had recently come out in the case of 
Captain Gunn, in which Colonel White of the Third Regi- 
ment, justifying himself for having in some measure 
sanctioned the practice by exchanging one of his own for 
a public horse ridden by a cavalry officer, had declared in 
a letter, " I believe I am the only officer in the cavalry, 
from Colonel Moylan to the youngest cornet, that does 
not possess at this time from one to three public horses." ^ 
The taking of the horses and forcing their sale under such 
circumstances was regarded by the citizens with great 
resentment. 

It was a serious question, it was claimed, how far the 
army of the United States, under the confederation, when 
operating within a State, was bound by the State laws as 
to the loss or acquirement of property in war. " It was," 
says Johnson, " obviously a struggle between State and 
United States powers ; and probably the first party ques- 
tion smacking of federalism and republicanism ever agitated 
in South Carolina ; but fortunately no collision had yet 
occurred on the subject of impressment. General Greene 
convened a numerous council of war to whom he referred 
the subject ; and it stands recorded that an eminent char- 
acter of the State, then a colonel,^ and then and now not 
less esteemed for profound law knowledge than for every 
quality that can render man amiable and estimable, stood 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 326. 

2 Colonel C. C. Pinckney. 



666 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

alone in support of State rights — no small ground of 
claim (we respectfully suggest) to be the acknowledged 
pi-otosire of South Carolina republicanism. Habitual def- 
erence ^ would incline us to side with the minority ; but 
we cannot help thinking that the only difficulty lay in the 
ill-defined tenor of most of the grants of power under the 
old confederation. The general power of conducting war 
would seem to have vested in Congress the right to 
legislate on captures ; whether they had legislated with a 
view to postliminy cases," says Johnson, "is what we are 
not able to decide. It is probable they had not." ^ They 
certainly had not. General Greene made no claim to the 
protection of any such legislation, but rested on the civil 
— the international — law in which he was so well read — 
as we are told. 

The governor's council on this occasion appear to have 
"assumed a very positive tone, but the representative and 
delegate of congressional power would make but one con- 
cession; he permitted those who claimed their horses to 
receive them on stipulation according to the practice of 
prize courts, and referred the subject to Congress." ^ 

It is not amiss to observe that, as there were no South 
Carolina Continental troops in the service under Greene, 
except those recently raised, as we have seen, General 
Pinckney, the only member of this council of war to 
whom the commander referred this delicate question, was 
probably the only Carolinian, and the only lawyer, upon 
the board. Certain it is, that, if not the only lawyer, 
he was the only lawyer of reputation upon it. This 
was doubtless one of the occasions of the bitter feeling 
which already had begun to be entertained in the State, 

1 Judge Johnson, the author, who thus writes, studied law under Gen- 
eral Pinckney. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 346. ' Ibid. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 667 

not only against its commander, but against the whole 
Continental army within its borders. 

Another enterprise of Kosciuszko's, of the same kind, 
was to occasion the last bloodshed of the Revolution. 
Just a month before the evacuation, Kosciuszko suggested 
to Captain Wihnot and Lieutenant Moore of the Maryland 
line to surprise a party of woodcutters from Fort John- 
son, on James Island. So much was the accuracy of the 
information doubted, that many believed that the negro 
who gave it had been sent expressly to decoy the Ameri- 
cans. Certain it is the party found the enemy prepared, 
and received so deadly a fire that Wilmot and several 
others fell lifeless, while Moore with others remained on 
the field, covered with wounds. Kosciuszko, although his 
weapon was shattered in his hand and his coat pierced by 
four balls, escaped unhurt. A British dragoon was killed 
by Mr. William Fuller, a very young and gallant volunteer 
who had joined the expedition, while in the act of cutting 
Kosciuszko down. The British buried Wilmot with the 
honors of war, and showed the greatest attention to 
Moore, who was removed to Charlestown to receive the 
best surgical attention. He died under his wounds a few 
days after the evacuation.^ 

It is related of Marion that about this time Kosciuszko 
wrote to him, calling his attention to a watering party at 
Lempriere's Point, so situated as to afford him an oppor- 
tunity of attacking it with success. To which Marion 
replied that he had not overlooked the situation of the 
British at that spot, but he viewed the war in Carolina as 
over, and as the enemy were preparing to go away he had 
sent a party to protect them from being annoyed by his 
own men ; that his fellow-citizens had already shed blood 

1 Ramsay's Bevolution in So. Ca., vol. II, 375 ; Johnson's Life of 
Greene, vol. II, 345 ; Garden's Anecdotes, 91. 



668 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

enough in the cause of freedom, and that he would not 
spill another drop of it now that it was unnecessary, — no, 
not for the highest honors that could be conferred upon 
him.i 

Such was the difference between the patriot and the 
soldier of fortune. 

General Moultrie, who had been a prisoner of war since 
the fall of Charlestown, was, on the 19th of February, 
1782, exchanged for General Burgoyne, and had arrived 
at Waccamaw in June, where he learned that Greene's 
array lay inactive at Ashley Ferry. He remained at 
Winyaw till late in September, when he paid a visit to 
General Greene. He thus describes his journey : — 

" It was the most dull, melancholy, dreary ride that any one could 
possibly take, of about one hundred miles through the woods of that 
country, which I had been accustomed to see abound with live-stock 
and wild fowl of every kind, was now destitute of all. It had been 
so completely cliecqaered by the different parties that no one part of 
it had been left unexx:)lored ; consequently, not the vestiges of horses, 
cattle, hogs, or deer, etc., were to be found. The squirrels and birds 
of every kind were totally destroyed. The dragoons told me that on 
their scouts no living creature was to be seen except now and then a 
few camp scavengers,^ picking the bones of some unfortunate fellows 
who had been shot or cut down and left in the woods above ground. 
In my visit to General Greene's camp, as there was some danger from 
the enemy, I made a circuitous route to General Marion's camp, 
then on Santee River, to get an escort, which he gave me, of twenty 
infantry and twenty cavalry; these, with the volunteers that attended 
me, made us pretty strong. On my way from General Marion's to 
General Greene's camp my plantation was in the direct road, where I 
called, and stayed all night. On my entering the place, as soon as the 
negroes discovered that I was of the party, there was immediately a 
general alarm and an outcry through the plantation that, ' Massa was 
come ! Massa was come ! ' and they were running from every part with 
great joy to see me. I stood in the piazza to receive them. They 

1 James's Life of Marion, Appendix, 8. 

2 Turkey buzzards. 



IN THE HE VOLUTION 669 

gazed at me with astonishment, and every one came and took me by 
the hand, saying, ' God bless you, Maesa I I'^L^ad to see you, Massa ! ' 
and every now and then some one or other would come out with a 
' Ky 1 ' and the old Africans joined in a war-song in their own language 
of ' Welcome the war home.' ' It was an affecting meeting between 
the slaves and the master. The tears stole from my eyes and ran 
down my cheeks. A number of gentlemen that were with me could 
not help being affected at the scene. Many are still alive, and 
remember the circumstances. I then possessed about two hundred 
slaves, and not one of them left me during the war, although they 
had had great offers ; nay, some were carried down to work on the 
British lines, yet they always contrived to make their escape and 
return home. My plantation I found to be a desolate place, — stock 
of every kind taken off, the furniture carried away, and my estate 
had been under sequestration. The next day we arrived at General 
Greene's camp. On our near approach, the air was so affected with 
the stench of the camp that we could scarcely bear the smell ; which 
shows the necessity of moving camp often in summer in these hot 
climates. General Greene's expecting the evacuation to take place 
every week from the month of August was the reason he remained 
so long on the same ground." ^ 

The army had moved in July from the neighborhood of 
Bacon's bridge, down the Ashley River, to Ashley Hall, 
about twelve miles from Charlestown. The position af- 
forded good spring water, and a high and dry situation, 
and was a comparatively healthy one, that and the 
adjoining plantation of Middleton Place being inhabited 
by the families of the wealthy owners during the whole 
year. Great pains were taken to preserve the health of the 
troops, and it was obviously better at this place than the 
former. But even here great care was required to preserve 
health during the fall, and it was imj)0ssible to enforce the 
precautions necessary in a discontented and inactive army. 
General Greene deemed it necessary, however, to remain 
in this position during the autumn months, and even he 
did not escape an attack of fever. Many of the officers 
1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol. II, 354, 357. 



670 HISTOEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

suffered in the same way. To the honor of General Leslie 
it is to be stated that, as the war was now practically 
over, as far as in his power, he relieved the unhappy 
situation of his opponents. Many of the American officers 
were permitted to retire, under safe conducts, for tlieir 
health, to the salubrious ocean air, a courteous indulgence 
which was granted to the wife of General Greene, who 
had joined him upon the first appearance of approaching 
peace. 

But the condition of the army at this time was truly 
deplorable, half naked, badly fed, never supplied with salt 
food, but uniformly only with rice, to which they were 
unaccustomed, and fresh beef, the latter of an inferior 
quality, with a very moderate quantity of salt. Other 
diseases attacked them than those incidental to the climate. 
To add to their discomforts, dysentery began to make dread- 
ful havoc among them. To this disease many fell victims, 
and to the real suffering and loss which it occasioned was 
added that depression of spirits which generally affects an 
army attacked by it, an effect not a little aggravated by the 
state of listless inactivity to which the main army was sub- 
jected. The deaths became alarmingly frequent. Scarcely 
an officer, it is believed, was entirely free from sickness, 
and the report of the inspector, when he mustered the men 
a short time afterwards, presented a dreadful return of 'the 
mortality that had prevailed.^ 

General Leslie had pressed his preparations for evacuat- 
ing the town with energy and despatch, but so much was 
to be done that, although the evacuation was officially com- 
menced on the 7th of August as a measure soon to be 
adopted, and the fleet to carry his army had arrived on the 
6th of September, it was not until the 14th of December 
that it actually took place. In the meanwhile the dis- 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 348, 354. 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 671 

tresses resulting from his confined situation had been 
greatly relieved by his wise measures. By giving permis- 
sion to the Loyalists to return and make their peace with 
their countrymen, General Leslie had relieved himself of 
great numbers ; even General Cuningham had availed him- 
self of this license. Some, who carried with them a great 
number of plundered slaves, had been furnished with trans- 
ports to take them to St. Augustine ; and finally, after he 
had advanced far in levelling the recently reerected works 
of the town and Fort Johnson, he ordered all who were 
well affected to the American cause to quit the town in 
twenty-four hours, under penalty of being considered spies. 
This measure, whilst it disembarrassed him of a number 
of useless mouths and suspected friends, was ingeniously 
calculated to give pretexts to many for casting themselves 
upon the mercy of their country, who had not availed 
themselves of the governor's proclamation or had been 
excepted from its benefits. 

Having nearly completed his preparations for sailing. 
General Leslie opened a communication with General 
Greene upon the subject of his peaceable departure. As 
there were many persons in his army whose hearts were 
swelling with revenge, and from whom he apprehended 
some attempts to fire the town, his conduct was not only 
prudent, but magnanimous ; and as no possible advantage 
could be taken of him, but by an attack upon his rear guard, 
an injury that could be amply revenged on the town from 
his shipping, an agreement was entered into that the 
Americans should take possession as the enemy's rear guard 
retired, that no attempt should be made upon the latter, 
and no injury done the city either before or after their 
departure.^ 

General Wayne was accordingly ordered, on the 13th of 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol II, 366. 



672 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

December, to cross Ashley River at what is now known as 
Bee's Ferry, with a corps consisting of three hundred light 
infantry, under the command of Major Hamilton, eighty 
of Lee's cavalry, and twenty artillery, with two six- 
pounders, and to move down towards the British lines, 
which were near Colonel Shubrick's, the present Belvidere 
Farm,^ north of Magnolia Cemetery, which consisted of 
three redoubts. There General Leslie sent him word 
that he would leave the advanced works at the firing of the 
morning gun the next day ; at which time it was arranged 
that General Wayne should move on slowly and take pos- 
session ; and from thence to follow the British into the 
town, keeping at a respectful distance, about two hundred 
yards. This plan of movement was carried out. At the 
appointed time the British abandoned the redoubts, and 
took up the line of march down what is now the King 
Street road, — then the only road into the city, — and after 
passing through the town .gates filed off to Gadsden's 
wharf, at the foot of what is now Calhoun Street. The 
movements of the two armies were conducted with great 
order and regularity, but were necessarily very slow, as 
time had to be allowed for the British troops to embark as 
they reached the water ; so that now and then the British 
called to General Wayne that he was too fast upon them, 
which occasioned him to halt. It thus occupied about 
four hours to make the march of three miles ; and it was 
about eleven o'clock a.m. when the American troops, march- 
ing into the town, took post at the State-House at the 
corner of Meeting and Broad streets. 

At three o'clock p.m. General Greene conducted Governor 
Mathews and the council, w'oh some other citizens, into 
the town. They marched in the following order : an ad- 
vance of an officer and thirty men of Lee's dragoons, then 
1 Now the property of the Country Club of Charleston. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 673 

followed the governor and General Greene, then Generals 
Moultrie and Gist, then the council, citizens, and ofBcers in 
all about fifty, a body of about one hundred and fifty cav- 
alry brought up the rear. The party halted in Broad 
Street, opposite where the Charleston Library now stands ; 
there they alighted, and the cavalry were dismissed to 
their quarters. 

It was, says Moultrie, whose account of the reentry of the 
American troops we have followed, a grand and pleasing 
sight to see the enemy's fleet (upwards of three hundred sail) 
lying at anchor from Fort Johnson to Five-fathom Hole, 
in a curved line, and what made it more agreeable, they 
were ready to depart from the port. The great joy that 
was felt on this day by the citizens and soldiers was in- 
expressible. The widows and orphans, the aged men, and 
others who from their particular situations were obliged 
to remain in the town, riany of them cooped up in one 
room of their own elegant houses for upwards of two years, 
whilst the other parts were occupied by British officers, 
not a few of whom were rude and uncivil, were now re- 
leased from mortifying situations which must have been 
truly distressing. " I can never forget," writes the old 
hero of Fort Moultrie, " the happy day when we marched 
into Charlestown with the American troops ; it was a proud 
day to me, and I felt myself much elated at seeing the bal- 
conies, the doors, and windows crowded with patriotic fair, 
the aged citizens, and others congratulating us on our return 
home, saying, ' God bless you, gentlemen ! You are wel- 
come home, gentlemen ! ' Both citizens and soldiers shed 
mutual tears of joy. It was an ample reward for the tri- 
umphal soldier, after all the hazards and fatigues of war 
which he had gone through, to be the instrument of releas- 
ing his friends and fellow-citizens from captivity, and 

VOL. IV. — 2x 



674 



HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 



restoring them to their liberties and possession of their city 
and country again." ^ 

The embarkation, which was not only of the army but 
of many of the Loyalists and their slaves, had begun the 
day before. It was necessarily a slow and tedious business, 
for nine thousand civilians and slaves, besides the British 
soldiery, were crowded into the fleet. The following figures 
of the exodus are preserved among the manuscripts of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society : ^ — 



To WHAT Place 


Men 


Women 


Children 


Blacks 


Total 


Jamaica .... 


600 


300 


378 


2613 


3891 


East Florida 






G30 


306 


337 


1653 


2926 


West Florida 






16G 


57 


119 


558 


900 


England . . 






137 


74 


63 


56 


330 


Halifax . . 






163 


133 


121 


53 


470 


New York . 






100 


40 


50 


50 


240 


St. Lucia . 






20 






350 


370 








1816 


910 


1068 


5333 


9127 



To these are to be added the negro slaves which the 
British had attached to their army, eight hundred of whom 
were said to have been carried off by Colonel Moncrief,^ 



1 Moultrie's Memoirs, vol, II, 358-361. ' ' The British evacuated Charles- 
ton. The American regular army entered it in triumph ; but our poor 
partisans were tliought too irregular, too ragged of raiment to share this 
triumph ! They were not too ragged to fight, only too ragged for show. 
It was a most ungenerous and ungrateful exclusion from the scene of the 
very men to whom the best part of the grand result was due ! They were 
disbanded here and there in swamp and thicket, wherever the moment 
found them ; disbanded without pay or praise, naked, starving, having the 
world before them, but losing from that moment all their customary guides 
but Providence ! " — BusselVs Magazine, vol. IV, 128. 

2 Year Book, City of Charleston, 1883 (Courtenay), 416. 
8 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 369. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 675 

making a loss of population to the State by this exodus of 
probably ten thousand. 

One of the most striking incidents of the evacuation 
was the astonishing number of deserters left behind. 
The author of the Life of Crreene states that he had in his 
possession the names of 350 who reported themselves dur- 
ing the year 1782, but this was whilst it was necessary to 
surrender themselves to the army. After the evacua- 
tion, as such report was unnecessary, none was made. 
Hundreds made their appearance from cellars and chimneys 
as soon as it could be done with safety. Not a Hessian 
went back but under compulsion ; and even of the other 
troops few appeared disposed to adhere to their colors but 
those who had previously deserted from the American 
standard or enlisted in the country .^ 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 367. 



CHAPTER XXX 

1782-83 

The British fleet had scarcely crossed the Charlestown 
Bar, and disappeared at sea, before the most serious con- 
troversies arose between General Greene, as commander of 
the Continental forces, and the State authorities. 

Upon the evacuation of the city the greater part of the 
American army, now composed entirely of Continental 
troops, the most of whom had come only after all the 
fighting in South Carolina was over, and whose only 
achievement in the State had been a mutiny, were now 
marched down to James Island and stationed there for the 
winter. The Virginia cavalry, to the number of two 
hundred under Major Swan, were posted near Combahee, as 
well to be at hand for the protection of Georgia from the 
British force at St. Augustine as for the convenience of 
forage. The Legion was posted in the vicinity of George- 
town. 

The army was now well clad ; but the circumstances 
under which the clothing had been obtained, coming to 
light immediately after the evacuation, were such as to 
bring General Greene's conduct under suspicion of personal 
corruption. Unfortunately, too, it was in the full tide of 
the excitement caused by this affair that the general most 
unwisely, and, to say the least of it, indecorously under- 
took to address the governor and legislature of the State, 
not only as to their duty in supplying his troops, about 

676 



IN THE REVOLUTION 677 

which he went so far as to threaten them with liis army, 
hut also in regard to another matter of the policy of the 
State, with which he had no concern. 

While the Southern army was retreating from Ninety 
Six, Major Robert Forsyth, who, it will be recollected, 
General Greene, upon his coming to the South, had had 
appointed deputy commissary for the Southern Depart- 
ment, relieved Colonel Davie from the duties of commissary 
upon General Greene's immediate staff, duties which Davie, 
says Johnson, had performed with unusual applause,^ but 
whose faithful service, it may here be observed, Greene's 
biographer is forced to admit, had not been able to shield 
that officer from his commander's expression of dissatisfac- 
tion. ^ It was through this Major Forsyth that General 
Greene was now involved in the unfortunate transaction 
with which his name must ever be associated. 

Some few weeks before the evacuation of Charlestown, 
one John Banks, who had been in the business of contract- 
ing for the supplies of the army, happened to be in 
Georgetown, and hearing there of the action of the 
governor and council in granting leave to the British 
merchants to remain after the evacuation, and of the de- 
plorable condition, not only of the army, but of the 
citizens, both for themselves and their negroes, for the 
want of clothing, saw at once the immense profit to be 
made if he could secure the purchase of the necessary 
materials in the liands of the British merchants before the 
evacuation, and thus monopolize, or, to use the language 
of the times, engross the articles of clothing of which there 
was such great need. In pursuance of his scheme, he 
obtained a flag from Colonel Lushington, who commanded 
the militia garrison at Georgetown, and under it proceeded 
to Charlestown. There he made his bargains with the 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 3G1. 2 /5,j.^ 248. 



678 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

merchants to the amount of £23,000 sterling, but to carry- 
out such a hxrge transaction he needed financial assistance. 
To obtain this he secured another flag, one from General 
Leslie to the American camp. Arriving there, he was 
introduced to General Greene through Major Forsyth, 
with whom he had had commercial transactions at 
Fredericksburg in the spring of the year, while pursuing 
his duties in Virginia as commissary of purchases, and 
who, with Major Burnet, another officer of General 
Greene's family, he interested in the transaction to the 
amount of one-fourth each. 

Thus presented to General Greene, Banks represented 
himself as an agent from the merchants in Charlestown, 
and submitted to him an offer from them, to take his 
bills on Mr. Morris, the financial agent of the United 
States, at par for the value of the clothing, provided the 
sum of 1200 guineas could be obtained as a cash payment. 
General Greene accepted the offer. But how was the 
1200 guineas to be raised? 

It happened that Mr. George Abbott Hall was at the 
time in South Carolina as the receiver in behalf of the 
United States to receive from the State the quota of 
the ^8,000,000, the amount of the Continental estimate for 
the year 1782 apportioned to the State, to meet which the 
Jacksonborough General Assembly had passed the act for 
furnishing supplies to the amount of $373,598; and also 
to receive the five per cent duty proposed to be levied on 
imported and prize goods. To Mr. Hall, General Greene 
applied for an advance of the 1200 guineas. Mr. Hall 
objected that the money had been confided to him by 
Mr. Morris to take up his notes and those of his bank. 
He admitted, however, " that he was authorized to let 
General Greene liave small sums upon the most pressing 
occasions.'''' General Greene conceived that a pressing occa- 



I IN THE REVOLUTION 679 

sion had arrived, and notwithstanding Mr. Hall declared 
that he should be bankrupted by the demand, insisted 
upon and obtained 1200 guineas, which he at once turned 
over to Banks, and gave him also bills to the amount of 
X8000 drawn on Mr. Moriis. As soon as Banks received 
the bills, he forwarded them through the agency of Major 
Forsyth by the government express, to his partner. Hunter, 
in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It happened that Captain 
Shelton, of the wagon master's department, to whose care 
the package was committed, overlooked Major Forsyth 
while that officer was making up the package, and, hav- 
ing his suspicions aroused as to the transaction, commu- 
nicated them to General Scott of Virginia, through whose 
hands it was to pass.^ Upon this. General Scott broke 
open the package upon receiving it, and in it found a 
letter from Forsyth, dated the 7th of November, and 
another from Banks, giving a full account of the transac- 
tion and sending the bills as the first fruits of it. Major 
Burnet was mentioned as one of the copartners, with a 
particular request that his interest should be kept secret. 
The next day another communication to Hunter arrived 
by the line of expresses, the only mail conveyance then 
existing. This was also franked by Major Forsyth, who, 
as commissary of purchases, had the right to transmit 
despatches by this conveyance. General Scott opened 
this letter also. It proved to be from Banks, and from it 
it appeared that Banks, during his residence in Charles- 
town, had been dealing largely in the corrupt practices 
which a state of war never fails to introduce or develop 
in commercial communities. Unfortunately, there were 

1 General Charles Scott of Virginia, who, it may be recollected, was 
present at the siege of Charlestown in 1780, and was taken prisoner upon 
the fall of the to-wn. Hist, of So. Ca. in the Bevolution, 1775-80 
(McCrady), 472, 509. 



680 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

intimations in these letters, implicating not only Majors 
Forsyth and Burnet, but General Greene himself. 
General Scott, thinking that he had made an important 
discovery, immediately communicated the intercepted 
letters to Governor Harrison and the council in Vir- 
ginia.^ 

The purpose of the governor and council in allowing 
the British merchants to remain in Charlestown after the 
evacuation had thus been frustrated, to a great extent 
at least. A great mercantile firm, composed in part of 
officers of the commander-in-chief's family, with capital 
drawn from the public coffers, had thus obtained a monoply 
of the clothing of which the people stood so much in need. 
The exact details of the transaction were not yet known, 
but by some means, probably through General Scott and 
Captain Shelton, the matter became public in Virginia, 
where General Greene at tlie time was very unpopular, 
and from Virginia the most injurious rumors had reached 
South Carolina. 

Under the contract with Banks, General Wayne de- 
clared that the army was then better clothed than he had 
ever seen American troops ; ^ but in the matter of subsist-j 
ence they were still in as great difficulty as ever. Con- 
gress and Mr. Morris had cast their support upon the; 
Southern States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, 
and Georgia. Virofinia and North Carolina would, and 
Georgia could, do nothing. The army was in South Caro- 
lina, and must therefore live upon her resources. The 
people of the State became indignant that the mainte- 
nance of the Southern army was thus thrown exclusively 
upon them, when it was known how much they had al- 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 358-364 ; The So. Ca. Weekly GOr 
sette, February 15, 1783. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 360. 



IN THE EEVOLUTIOX 681 

•eady contributed, and how much more they had endured 
md suffered in the common cause.^ 

By the Constitution of 1778, then in force, the General 
Assembly was to meet on the first Monday in January in 
each year, but it was not until the 24th of that month, 
1783, that a quorum was ready this year for business. 
When it met, notwithstanding the state of popular excite- 
ment at the time. Governor Mathews opened its pro- 
ceedings with a message, not only devoid of the slightest 
intimation of dissatisfaction with the army, but containing 
the kindest and most flattering references to its com- 
mander. And to these sentiments of his Excellency both 
the Senate and House responded in their addresses in 
the most cordial manner.^ But these kindly official ex- 
pressions but thinly veiled the mutual discontent between 
the army and the people. On the 10th of January, General 
Greene had been notified that impressments would no 
longer be allowed ; and impressments had indeed failed to 
supply the army with beef, for no one would bring their 
cattle within reach of the impressing officer. In more 
than one instance beef had been taken by force from the 
public market for the use of the army. An attempt was 
then made to find a contractor. But it was in vain that 
letters and advertisements had been circulated, calling for 
bids, until Banks & Company again came forward ; but 
they would not undertake the contract at the prescribed 
prices. Colonel Carrington, in charge of the subsistence 

1 We have seen, it will be remembered, that South Carolina had 
overpaid her proportion of the expenditures of the war, in the sum 
of $1,205,978, exceeding every other state but Massachusetts in the 
amount of her contribution to the common cause, and very nearly equal- 
ling that State which had three times her white population. This she had 
done before she was overrun and devastated by the enemy. Hist, of 
So. Ca. in the Bevolution 1775-80 (McCrady"), 303, 304. 

2 The So. Ca. Weekly Gazette, February 15, 1783. 



682 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of the army, appreciating the delicacy of the situation in 
dealing with the firm, now the subject of so much suspi- 
cion, took the precaution of communicating the terms 
they offered to Hugh Rutledge, the Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, with the request that he would lay the 
subject before the House and request their advice on any 
means that could be adopted to obtain another contractor 
and better terms. Mr. Rutledge replied that he had laid 
the letter before the House, that the terms of Banks & 
Company were thought too high, but as no others had 
been offered, and the pressing necessities called for imme- 
diate relief, it was thought needless to keep open the con- 
tract any longer. Upon this Colonel Carrington closed 
with Banks. And Banks now had not only the contract 
for clothing, but for feeding the army as well, and that 
upon his own terms. 

General Scott, as we have said, upon ascertaining the 
character of the letters of Banks & Company, had trans- 
mitted them to the governor and council of Virginia. It 
was at this time, on the 1st of February, tliat the following 
official letter from Governor Harrison and his council 
reached General Greene : ^ — 

" Virginia in Council, December 24, 1782. 

"Sir : — The inclosed copies of letters from Mr. John Banks and 
Major Forsyth discover a dangerous partnership entered into by 
those gentlemen with others to carry on an illicit trade within the 
Southern States entirely injurious to them, and contrary to the 
strongest recommendations of Congress and the good faith so solemnly 
pledged to our good allies the French that I look at it as a duty in- 
cumbent on me to acquaint you with the particulars in order that 
such steps may be taken, as well to prevent the scheme's being 
carried into execution, as to call to account the officers of your army 
who have so imprudently entered into a connexion derogatory to 
their characters as officers and abusive of that confidence you have 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 364. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 683 

been pleased to place in them. The letters will so fully explain the 
whole transaction that I need not trouble you with any comment of 
mine, further than to observe that Mr. Banks has endeavored to 
involve you in this business, by hinting a desire in you to become a 
partner; and that he had liberties granted him by your connivance 
that could not be obtained by any other person. These insinuations 
I assure you Sir have made no impression to your disadvantage 
either with me or any other member of my council. Your character 
stands in too exalted a point of view with us to be aspersed by any 
thing from so trifling an individual. Yet it may not be amiss to let 
him feel the weight of your resentment for his presumption lest the 
uninformed may differ with us in this sentiment. You will see that 
the letters are public here and by what means they became so." 

' The arrival of this communication at this time was most 
unfortunate for General Greene. The report spread far 
and wide that, employing the funds of the public, he had, 
through the agency of Banks, opened a lucrative commerce 
with Charlestown, and in a short time it was superadded 
that Mr. Morris, participating in the iniquity, had given him 
an unlimited right of drawing in order to furnish a capital 
for speculation. 1 It so happened also that the paper had 

1 Banks, soon after obtaining the contract to supply Greene's army with 
food as well as with clothing, speculating in other directions, became 
deeply involved, and could not comply with his contract, whereupon the 
merchants proposed that if General Greene would guarantee Banks's 
debts they would furnish the latter further credit. Greene agreed to 
this. Banks failed, and after the war (i.e. in 1784) his creditors called 
upon Greene to make good his guarantee. In 1785, on the advice of his 
friends, General Greene applied to the Continental Congress for relief ; 
but before action was taken he died [Commanders Series, General Greene 
(Greene), 297-298]. In 1791 his widow renewed the application by 
petition to the Second Congress under the Constitution. There her 
petition was met and opposed by General Sumter, then a member of 
that body, not on the ground of fraud or of General Greene's connection 
with Banks, but on the broader gi-ound that there had been no necessity 
of such action on the part of General Greene, that South Carolina her- 
self, pressed and devastated as she was, would have yet furnished the 
necessary supplies had a proper application been made in time ; and of 
this General Sumter was in a position to speak with authority, as he was 



684 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

come just at the time when the General Assembly was 
about to go into the election for another governor, underJ 
the Constitution, which required an election every twoj 
years and rendered the incumbent ineligible. Governor] 
Mathews, from his previous position in Congress upon thel 
committees at General Washington's headquarters, had! 
had much experience in regard to the wants and necessi- 1 
ties of an army, and of the ways and means of supplying 
them. His position in Congress had also doubtless ren- 
dered him most friendly to the Continental army and its 

on a committee charged with providing the means of doing so, when, as 
we shall see, General Greene most improperly interfered — an interfer- 
ence which caused the abandonment of the measure — and that large grants 
had been made by the States of Georgia, North and South Carolina, which 
were still in the possession of the general's heirs. He recognized, he said, 
the delicacy of his position owing to his relations with General Greene, 
and would not suffer past injuries to warp his judgment, but acted in con- 
formity with the opinions of the people of South Carolina, and in par- 
ticular of the district which he had the honor to represent. The petition, 
on the other hand, was supported, among others, by General Wayne and 
Colonel Wadsworth, Greene's partner in the firm of Barnabas Deane & Co. 
who was then his executor and a member of Congress. After the fullest 
debate the petition was defeated by a vote of 28 to 25. {Abridgment of 
Debates of Congress^ vol I, 335-341.) It was, however, again renewed 
the next year, and on the 4th of April, 1792, a measure for the relief of 
Greene's estate in one case was passed by a like close vote of 29 ayes to 
26 nays. (Ibid., 373.) Four years after another bill was passed for the 
relief of the estate in another case by the large majority of 56 yeas to 26 
nays. (Ibid., 762.) For a summary of the case as presented in Congress 
pro and con see ibid., but it may well be doubted if either of these 
measures of relief would have been passed had it been then known that 
General Greene had in 1779-80 been a secret partner in the firm of 
Barnabas, Deane & Co., and as quartermaster-general purchasing sup- 
plies from his own house, for such knowledge would have much weakened 
the argument so much pressed and relied upon, that it was impossible to 
suppose that one of his high character could have been involved in such a 
transaction. On the other hand, it is to be remembered that there is not 
a vestige of evidence that the partners in that house took undue advantage 
of their official positions to extend the business or increase the profits of 
the firm. (J. Hammond Trumbull, LL.D., Magazine of Am. History, 
vol. XII, 28.) 



IN THE REVOLUTION 685 

officers. Now another governor was to be chosen, while 
popuhxr sentiment ran strongly against the army in general 
and its commander in particular. 

On the 4th of February, 1783, the legislature pro- 
ceeded to the election of State officers ; whereupon Benja- 
min Guerard was chosen governor and Richard Beresford 
lieutenant-governor. The constitution rendering the privy 
councillors, as well as the governor, ineligible to reelection, 
new members of that body had also to be elected; and 
Peter Bocquet, Arnoldus Vanderhorst, Benjamin Waring, 
Josiah Smith, Nicholas Eveleigh, William Hasell Gibbes, 
Jacob Read, and Daniel DeSaussure were chosen. 

The names of those hitherto prominent, either in the 
civil or military line, are conspicuously absent in this list 
of the new officers of the State. This is no doubt, in part 
at least, accounted for by the constitutional provision for- 
bidding reelections. The absence of any but Low-Country 
men in the Privy Council is with no less doubt to be 
attributed to the necessity of having in the council resi- 
dents of the immediate neighborhood of the city where 
the governor resided, so as to insure a quorum upon imme- 
diate pressing occasions. The journals of the legislature 
show the presence in the body of all the old leaders, as 
well from the Up- Country as from the Low-Country, and 
their active concern in all its measures, so that there could 
scarcely have been any local or class prejudice controlling 
these elections. The delegates to Congress chosen also 
disprove the idea that any such motives controlled. These 
were Henry Laurens, John Rutledge, Ralph Izard, Jacob 
Read, and Thomas Sumter. Governor Guerard had been 
one of those confined on a prison ship and exiled to Phila- 
delphia, and his popularity doubtless arose from his noble 
conduct in regard to his fellow-prisoners and the exiles 
to St. Augustine who were transported to Philadelphia. 



686 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Many of these, as has already been stated, accustomed 
through life to every essential comfort, were then destitute 
of common necessaries, and not a few actually wanted 
bread. Mr. Guerard was possessed of an extensive property, 
and, touched by the sufferings of his fellow-citizens, he 
came forward and offered to pledge his whole estate as a 
security to raise a sum to be exclusively appropriated to 
their maintenance, demanding no greater share for himself 
than that which should be allowed to every other individual. 
Carolina estates, then in the hands of the enemy, were not 
regarded as a very good security, and his generous inten- 
tions proved altogether abortive ; but they were not for- 
gotten by his fellow-exiles. The influence of the St. 
Augustine company and of those who had been on the 
prison ships, in this election is very manifest. Governor 
Guerard had been on the prison ship Paek-IIorse. Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Beresford and Privy Councillors Josiah 
Smith, William Hasell Gibbes, Jacob Read, and Daniel 
DeSaussui-e had all belonged to the St. Augustine party. 

A measure which was at this time exciting the greatest 
interest in this legislature was a bill for the repeal of the 
act of the year before allowing Congress to levy five per 
cent duties on imports and prizes. Under the articles of 
confederation the consent of every one of the thirteen 
States was necessary to any amendment of them, and such 
an amendment was necessary to allow the imposition of 
this tax ; and as Rhode Island refused her consent to this 
measure it stood in abeyance. Congress, having no resource 
except persuasion, was about to send a delegation to that 
State to urge its consent, when intelligence was received 
that Virginia had joined Marjdand in opposition to it, and 
had without a negative in her Assembly passed an act to 
withdraw her assent. The reasons recited in the preamble 
to the Virginia act of repeal were thus stated : " The per- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 687 

mitting any power other than the General Assembly of 
this commonwealth to levy duties or taxes upon citizens 
of this State within the same is injurious to its sovereignty, 
may prove destructive of the rights and liberties of the 
people, and so far as Congress may exercise the same is 
contravening the spirit of the confederation." ^ Following 
the lead of Virginia, a bill had been introduced into the 
legislature of South Carolina, reciting that the body at its 
last sitting, desirous of strengthening the hands of the 
United States, had passed the act vesting in Congress a 
power to levy duties of five per centum ad valorem on 
certain goods and merchandise imported into the States, 
and prizes and prize goods condemned in the courts of 
admiralty ; that the State of Rhode Island had refused to 
vest Congress with such powers, and the commonwealth of 
Virginia had repealed the law by which she had empowered 
Congress to impose such duties ; that it was repugnant to 
the commercial interests of the State to continue the act, 
and enacting its repeal. 

At the same time the Assembly was busy considering 
measures for the support of the army without impress- 
ments. A joint committee of tlie Senate and House had 
been appointed to consider without delay some speedy and 
effectual measure to prevent the present method of col- 
lecting supplies of provisions and forage. The committee 
was a very able and representative one, one fully compe- 
tent and willing to do justice to the army. Upon it were 
General Moultrie, General Sumter, General Barnwell, 
Major Bocquet, an d Colonel Vanderhorst. General Moultrie 
was a Continental officer, and had been absent, and therefore 
entirely removed from any participation in the differences 
between General Greene and General Sumter. None of 
the other members are known to have been in any way 
1 Bancroft, vol. VI, 33, 34. 



HISTORY OF SOUTH CAEOLINA 

embroiled with General Greene or with any one connected 
with the Continental service. 

This committee reported, on the 14th of February, that 
since General Greene had applied for assistance, a consider- 
able quantity of salt beef had arrived at James Island, 
which they conceived might be a sufficient supply till the 
contractors were ready to commence their issues. Should 
it prove otherwise, they recommended that warrants be 
issued to impress till the contractors could relieve the army, 
at a rate not exceeding one-third of the cattle and hogs 
each person might be entitled to. For supplying the army 
with forage, they recommended that the governor might 
be empowered to appoint forage masters in such places as 
were necessary to pi-ocure and deliver forage in such quan- 
tities for such horses only, however, as were allowed by 
the regulations of Congress.^ 

It was while the legislature was thus occupied, devising 
a measure for the support of the army by modified impress- 
ments, that General Greene, notwithstanding his own per- 
sonal unpopularity, and the equivocal position in which he 
was placed by the disclosure of the Banks correspondence, 
undertook most officiously to address the governor and 
the legislature upon the measures which they were con- 
sidering, to volunteer his opinions, and to threaten the 
governor and Assembly with the anger and power of the 
army if they did not comply with his views and demands 
— for this was the effect of his communication, however 
his friends and admirers have attempted to explain it away. 

The letter addressed to the governor — with a request 
that it be laid before the House — bears date the 8th of 
March. Its terms, says Johnson, were perfectly respectful 
and decorous. It urged the great necessities of Congress, 
the little to be apprehended from its powers, the injustice 
1 Journal of the House of Bepresentatives. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 689 

that had been done the army, its mutinous temper, the 
withering state of the treasury, and the imperious duty of 
enabling the general government to fulfil its contracts. 
" I confess," he wrote, " I am one of those who think our 
independence can only prove a blessing under congressional 
influence." "If we have anything to apprehend," he 
continued, " it is that the members of Congress will sacri- 
fice the general interest to particular interests in the State 
to which they belong ; that this had been the case, and 
from the very nature and constitution of that body, more 
was to be dreaded from their exercising too little, than too 
much power." Then, warming with his subject, he went 
on to observe : — 

" The Financier says the affairs of his department are tottering on 
the brink of ruin ; the army to the northward are in the highest dis- 
content ; and the same is to be expected to the southward. It must 
be confessed the soldiers have given noble proofs of virtue and patriot- 
ism under every species of distress and suffering. But this has been 
in full persuasion that justice would be done them in due time. The 
distresses of a suffering country have been urged with success to 
silence their present demands ; but these arguments will have no 
weight in future — tlie present repose affords a prospect of permanent 
revenue. The eyes of the army are turned upon the States in full ex- 
pectation of it. It is well known that Congress have no revenue ; and 
the measures of the States will determine the conduct of the army. 
I need not tell your Excellency that the moment they are convinced 
they have nothing to hope from that quarter they will disband. Nor 
will they be satisfied with general promises. Nothing short of per- 
manent and certain revenue will keep them subject to authority. I 
think it my duty to be explicit because I know the sentiments of the 
army. Men will suffer to a certain degree ; beyond which it is dan- 
gerous to push them. My influence shall never be wanting to promote 
the tranquillity of government; but this will have little weight when 
opposed to the demands of an injured soldiery. My heart is warm 
with good wishes for this country ; and I cannot contemplate future 
dangers that threaten it but with pain and anxiety. I am sure I 
shall never turn my back when troubles overtake her ; but it is much 
easier to prevent evils than correct them. This country is much better 

VOL. IV. — 2 Y 



690 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

calculated for recenue than for war. It may lose by every new convul- 
sion, but can never gain where liberty is not the object. Your wealth 
and weakness are a double temptation to invite an invasion, and are 
the strongest arguments for uniting in the closest terms your interest 
with others. View but for a moment the vast property you have ex- 
posed, and the little permanent force for its defence. Again, consider 
how unhealthy your climate, and the prejudices prevailing against it. 
Should you add new difficulties in matters of finance, the war continue, 
and the army disband, your ruin is inevitable," etc.^ 

The impatience of some of the members, it is said, could 
scarcely be restrained to the conclusion of this letter. 
"Are we to be dictated to by a Cromwell?" said some. 
"Can we not manage our own concerns? Are we to be 
terrified by threats of mutiny and violence ? Let us first 
be paid our advances and then let Congress, or its swords- 
men, require this duty ! If we are to pay a duty we can 
collect it ourselves, without having the placemen of Con- 
gress swarming among us ! " ^ 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 387-388. 

2 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 388. In a letter of General Greene 
to Gouverneur Morris, April 23, 1783, he writes: "The subject of your 
letter by Major Edwards is important to the public, and interesting to the 
army. The disposition of the latter here is much the same as it is to the 
northward, but I am afraid of both. When soldiers advance without 
autliority who can halt them ? We have many Clodiuses and Catilines 
in America, who may give a different direction to this business, than either 
you or I expect. It is a critical business and pregnant with dangerous 
consequences. Congress are fast declining, and their power and authority 
must expire, without more effectual support. What this may produce 
time will manifest. I have done my duty and await events. 

" I wrote a letter to the Governor of the State on the subject of finance 
and the discontents of the army. It gave some alarm and much disgust. 
Continental authority and the financier are looked upon with a jealous 
eye here. No people were ever more blind to their true interest. Time 
and further experience will produce what reason and persuasion cannot. 
I send you a copy of my letter to the Assembly and a couple of papers 
with some strictures thereon. More will be said on the subject hereafter. 
Plain dealing will soon become necessary," etc. Life of Gouverneur 
Morris (Sparks), vol. I, 251, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 691 

The proceediiig gave great alarm, not only to the mem- 
bers of the General Assembly, but to almost every man in 
the State. With less excitement, but with earnest protest, 
others took up the matter in the press, and seriously and 
gravely pointed out its dangerous tendency. A writer over 
the signature of " Hampden," in The S. C. Weekly Gazette, 
observing that the general in his communication in regard 
to impressments complains of the inattention of the Assem- 
bly to the wants and distresses of the army, and indirectly 
informs the governor that, as his powers of impressing 
were at an end, some mode must be established for furnish- 
ing supplies, declares that this was setting up an authority 
unknown to our government and superior to the law — an 
attempt affecting, in his opinion, the very vitals of the 
constitution. The fundamental laws of human nature, 
and the precepts of our forefathers, he urged, were equally 
repugnant to the claim. " The very idea of property 
excludes the right of another taking any thing from me 
without my consent, otherwise I cannot call it my own. 
No tenure can be so precarious as the will of another. 
What property can I have in what another can seize at 
pleasure ? If any part is subject to the discretionary 
power of others, the whole may be so likewise. If any 
part of my estate is to be seized at any time without the 
authority of the legislature, I can have no property. 

" It will, I suppose," he continued, " be objected, is South 
Carolina then to enjoy the protection of the confederacy 
and to contribute nothing to its support, or to the main- 
tenance of that army which had afforded her citizens safety 
and security and placed them in a situation of peace and 
quietness ? They, her people, have given the fullest 
answer to this objection, in a manner not to be contro- 
verted, through a series of years and by the most explicit 
declarations. Equally in words and actions, in the most un- 
equivocal nature, they have demonstrated their love, their 



692 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 



I 



ardor, their long attachment to their sister States. They 
have always been ready, not only to contribute to the 
expenses of the government, but likewise to the wants and 
necessities of others. In some instances they have far ex- 
ceeded the cold line of prudence ; with cheerful hearts they 
gave all they had in their power and contended with them 
against a common enemy of the liberties of America. The 
last House will bear witness to the grateful sense they had of 
the important services of General Greene, and their acts 
give the fullest proof of the warm affections of their hearts 
to the army, and of their readiness to bear their share of the 
public expense and burdens when in a situation to contrib- 
ute, but the whole was the gift of freemen, who feel that 
they are, and know that they have a right to be, free." 

Then, turning to the other subject, " Hampden " went on 
to say, " The vesting Congress with the power of levying an 
impost of five per centum, which the last House had no 
right to pass, would never be submitted to by the freemen 
of America. The spirit of it is hostile in the extreme to 
liberty. It is enacting a permanent revenue — it is a char- 
ter of slavery. I deny the principle of the act. We 
bewilder ourselves with fantastic expressions of the hap- 
piness of America under congressional influence. The 
gentlest natures are too often fond of power, though they 
do not abuse it. There are many things which the legis- 
lature cannot do, many cases in which it has no power. 
They cannot create themselves perpetual. They are merely 
a delegated power from the people, and therefore cannot 
surrender their share of power. 

" I will never admit," he continued, " arbitrary power to 
be lodged in any man or body of men. Many things are 
so closely woven in with the constitution, like the trial by 
jury, that they cannot be separated unless the body of the 
people expressly declare otherwise, after a full considera- 



IN THE REVOLUTION C93 

tion. There are fundamental, inalienable rights, landmarks 
of the constitution, which cannot be removed." 

It is said that nothing could exceed the astonishment 
of General Greene that his interference should have been 
received as it was. Upon the advice of friends he thought 
proper the next day to address another letter to the gov- 
ernor, exculpating himself from the charge of intending to 
dictate or offend ; but the second letter, says Johnson, was 
not calculated to allay the ferment. Its stubborn vindica- 
tion and cast of satire were not adapted to make its apolo- 
gies acceptable. 1 Upon the receipt of the governor's 
message laying the letter of March 8th before the General 
Assembly, that body, on the 16th of March, resolved c^ — 

" That the Legislature of the State has strained every nerve in 
endeavors to contribute theu" share towards the continental expense. 
That in the beginning of last year when the country was desolated by 
the ravages of the enemy they passed a law for the payment of their 
full quota as assessed by Congress and have every reason to believe 
that the said law has been complied with. That the State did further 
furnish a considerable supply of clothing to such of our quota of 
troops as was raised, which expenditure has been acknowledged to 
have been received as part of their quota by the Financier. That 
during the present session of Assembly, taxes have been laid upon 
this country which must be burthensome and distressing to our con- 
stituents with a view to comply with the requirements of Congress. 
That in aid of the taxes above mentioned, a considerable portion of 
confiscated property has been appropriated to the supplies of the cur- 
rent year. That in addition to the current taxes the legislature have 
voted the necessary forage for the cavalry which must amount to a very 
considerable sum, and that the continental forms a part of the supplies. 

" Resolved that no public creditors have any reasonable cause of 
complaint against the State for want of raising supplies towards the 
general expense." 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, ,389. 

^Journal General Assembly, March 16, 1783. The letters of General 
Greene are not recorded in the journal, and the text of the first only 
is to be found, and to be found only in Johnson's Life of Greene as above. 



694 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

The act repealing the impost duty was promptly passed ^ 
and the measures looking to a conditional of the impress- 
ments abandoned. It was not long before another cause 
of offence was given. Captain Ker of the British army, 
the friend, as we have seen, of General Pickens, and who, 
it was said, had saved the life of Colonel Washington at 
the Eutaws, who had married in Charlestown, and 
was there well known and liked, had arrived with a flag 
from Governor Tonyn of East Florida to the military com- 
mander of the Southern Department.^ By him it was 
duly received and acknowledged, and the usual forms on 
such occasions regularly observed. But Governor Guerard 
construed the reception of an embassy from the civil gov- 

1 Statutes of So. Ca. vol. IV, 560, March 16, 1783. 

2 It is unfortunate that we do not know the subject of this embassy or 
flag — as it was called. Our only knowledge of it is derived from Judge 
Johnson's work, which we have followed. It is probable, however, that 
Captain Ker's flag was not the beginning of the matter, for in a manuscript 
book in the Secretary of State's office in Columbia, entitled Index to Loose 
Documents, we find an entry, " Letter of Gov. Tonyn to Gov. Guerard 
demanding the person of Dr. Wells (M. 94, 1783). Other papers relat- 
ing to the subject (M. 11, 28, 29, 1784)." And again, "Letter to 
Gov. Tonyn of East Florida, respecting the right of British subjects under 
the provisional treaty (M. 11, 102, 1784). . . . Letter to Captain Wyly 
agent for Gov. Tonyn (M. 103, 105, 1784)." This index refers to Revo- 
lutionary documents which had been arranged and classified, but upon 
the burning of the State-House by the Federal army in 1865, were, with 
other manuscripts, tumbled out, but fortunately not destroyed, and now 
lie in a confused mass in a room in the present State-House, and for the 
rearrangement and classification of which the General Assembly has just 
made an appropriation. 

There is also this entry in the Journal of the House, August 13, 
1783 : " With respect to the correspondence passed between Governor 
Guerard and the governor of St. Augustine and the letter of Mr. Read 
Head to Sir Guy Carleton and the answer relating to the vesting of the 
property of citizens of the State carried off by the British army. The 
committee are of opinion that copies of that correspondence be forthwith 
transmitted to our delegates in Congress to be made use of as they may 
prefer in order to make reparation for the property so taken away." 



IN THE REVOLUTION 695 

ernor of a foreign power, by the military commandant of 
the United States troops accidentally within the borders of 
his State, without reference to him as governor and com- 
mander-in-chief, as an indignity to the State. It was not, 
it will be observed, a flag from a military officer in the field, 
but from the civil governor of Florida. The articles of 
confederation had certainly not clothed the United States, 
still less its military officer, with the power of sovereignty. 
Would General Washington himself have received an em- 
bassy from the governor of Canada without referring it to 
Congress ? The articles of confederation, it is true, provided 
that no State without the consent of the United States in 
Congress assembled should send any embassy to, or receive 
any embassy from, any king, prince, or State.^ But did 
that authorize an officer of Congress, the military comman- 
dant in the field, to do so ? The governor, holding that it 
did not, issued his mandate to arrest the whole party, even 
the crew of the vessel which brought the British officer. 
Captain Ker immediately claimed the protection of General 
Greene. To himself it was effectually extended; but the 
sheriff, supported by the governor, insisted on detaining 
the crew as prisoners under civil process. The case now 
became one of extreme delicacy, which General Greene 
promptly resolved to solve by force. He first, however, 
called a council of war, to which he submitted the question 
whether Captain Ker had committed any violation of his 
flag? This point, which does not appear to have been 
involved in the controversy with the governor, the council 
unanimously decided in the negative. Troops were there- 
upon ordered to take possession of Fort Johnson and Wap- 
poo Cut, and to permit no one to pass or repass, under flags, 
without permission from Greene's headquarters. Seeing 
that General Greene had taken his resolution, and knowing 

1 Article 6. 



696 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

that he would adhere to them, the governor and council 
concluded to discharge the prisoners, but to order Ker to 
leave the city immediately and the State in three days. 
From this new indignity, as he conceived, Ker again 
appealed, and received from the general the following 
reply : ^ — 

" The order sent you by the Governor you will pay no regard to. 
When I am ready to discharge your flag I will inform you. The 
time and manner of your leaving the State shall be made as agreeable 
as possible. I confide in the honor of the flag and will not impose 
impossibilities. I shall have my letter ready for you to leave this the 
day following the time the Governor has set for your departure. I am 
exceedingly unhappy at this further instance of indelicate treatment 
you have met with. Instead of an apology for the injury past, you 
are subjected to further indignity ; and instead of being dismissed 
with the politeness due to a flag, you are ordered out of the State like 
a criminal and threatened with the vengeance of government. Noth- 
ing but my wishes to preserve the tranquillity of the people and the 
respect and regard I have for their peace and quiet could have pre- 
vailed on me to have suffered your flag to be treated in the manner 
it has been. And although I do not think this a sufficient apology 
for the indignities to which the flag has been subjected yet I hope 
some allowance will be made for my truly delicate situation. I know 
it was my duty to afford you complete protection at every hazard, and 
was the same insult to be offered to one of my flags I must be silent 
after what has happened here. However I shall write to Governor 
Tonyn. I hope you will relate the peculiarity of the case on your 
arrival with the same liberality you speak of it here," etc. 

In his communication to General Lincoln 2 on the sub- 
ject. General Greene requested the latter to lay it immedi- 
ately before Congress, as he was resolved not to submit 
to a second attack on the United States authority, " a prece- 
dent for such encroachments shall not be founded upon 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 390. 

2 The office of Secretary of War had been established in 1781, and 
General Benjamin Lincoln, who had formerly commanded the Southern 
Department, was appointed to it. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 697 

his failure to resist them." He further observed that " this 
is not one of those cases where the right was doubtful 
or public safety the object, but appears to be a matter of 
temper, and pursued without regard to either." ^ Thus 
dogmatically, with sword in hand, did the general decide 
a most delicate question, in which the right was neverthe- 
less most doubtful. His detaining the flag a day longer 
than necessary was a mere matter of boastful insult, as to 
which he well knew there was no power to resent or resist. 
It was not true that this was "not one of those cases 
where the right was doubtful." The position he assumed 
was, on the contrary, to say the least, most questionable. 
Nor had he any right to call in question the sincerity of 
Governer Guerard's motives as he did, when he assumed 
to write to General Lincoln that the public safety was not 
the governor's object, but that his course was a matter of 
temper. Such reflection upon the governor's conduct was 
unbecoming the conduct of public business and his inter- 
course with one occupying the official position of chief 
magistrate of a State. Whatever may or may not have 
been Governor Guerard's personal motives, — and there 
was no ground to impute improper ones, — the question 
raised was one which no governor could have afforded to 
ignore in the uncertain relations of the State to the Con- 
gress under the Confederation. The State had not waived 
her newly acquired sovereignty by the articles of con- 
federation to which she was a party. She was still the 
mistress of her territory, and competent to say who should 
or who should not enter upon it ; and this she had done. 
She had forbidden the presence of any one upon her soil 
who did not acknowledge her sovereign authority. By 
the act of 1778, to enforce allegiance, the State had or- 
dained that every person thereafter coming into the State, 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 390. 



698 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

either by land or by water, should repair immediately to 
the nearest justice of the peace, and take the oath of alle- 
giance prescribed.^ No subject of Great Britain had, 
therefore, any right to land upon her coast, and any such 
person was liable to arrest if he did so. Nor did the fact 
that such person claimed to come with a message from the 
governor of Florida to General Greene alter the case. 
General Greene, as military commander in the South, 
would undoubtedly, with propriety, have received a flag 
of truce from the militaiy commandant in the field, against 
whom he was operating. But it will be observed that such 
was not the case in point. Captain Ker, though himself 
a British army officer, did not come from the commander 
of the British military forces, but came bearing a message 
from the civil governor of Florida. The communication, 
though spoken of at the time as "a flag," was not prop- 
erly so termed — a flag of truce is technically a communi- 
cation from an officer in the field to his opponent, upon 
some matter relating to the conduct of the war in which 
they are engaged. The communication in question was 
one of a civil nature from the civil governor of that prov- 
ince, and as such Governor Guerard may well have held 
that General Greene had no right to receive and entertain 
it upon the territory of his State — and that in violation 
of a fundamental statute thereof.^ The peace commis- 

1 Statutes of So. Ca., vol. I, 147. 

2 In the invasion of the State, 1779, and the investment of the city by 
General Pr6vost, it will be remembered that he followed this mle, and as 
a general in the field refused to receive a communication from Governor 
Rutledge, and declined to deal with any but the military commandant 
on the American side. [Hist, of So. Ca. in the Revolution, 1775-80, 
(McCrady), 375.] And curiously enough, General Greene himself had 
just acted upon the same principle when, in replying to General Leslie in 
regard to the Confiscation Act, he had written that " he had the honor to 
command the forces of the United States in the Southern Department, 
but had nothing to do with the internal police of any State.'''' — Ante 683- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 699 

sioners from England had not addressed themselves to 
General Washington, the Commander-in-chief of the armies 
of the United States ; nor had Washington undertaken to 
receive them. Sir Henry Clinton announced by flag their 
arrival to Washington, and requested a passport or safe- 
conduct for their secretary through his lines, as bearer of 
despatches to Congress ; and this was refused. What 
would have been thought of Washington had he received 
and entertained the commissioners at his headquarters, 
regardless of the Congress and Henry Laurens, its presi- 
dent, because, forsooth, they had come under a flag ? To 
Congress, if not to Governor Guerard, should General 
Greene have referred any message from the governor of 
Florida. Under the articles of confederation, it is true, it 
had been agreed that no State should, without the consent 
of the United States, send or receive any embassy from 
or to any king, prince, or foreign State. Whether Gov- 
ernor Tonyn's communications came within this prohibi- 
tion or not does not appear, but it did not follow, if 
they did, that the military officer of Congress in command 
of the United States troops in any particular State was 
authorized to carry on a correspondence with a British civil 
magistrate in British territory. But whether this reason- 
ing be accepted as sound or not, it cannot be denied that 
there was much force in the view, and that Governor 
Guerard, acting for the State of South Carolina, did not 
transcend the duties of his position in making the ques- 
tion ; nor do we think that General Greene's arbitrary 
manner of deciding it can be approved as wise, generous, 
or dignified. And so it was that, in the very throes of her 
birth, South Carolina had trained upon her the guns of a 
Federal army. 

The army and its commander, says Johnson, had now 
become very unpopular. The people of the State regarded 



700 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

tliem as little else than the last enemy to be got rid of. 
Mutual discontents were exasperated by mutual reproaches. 
The former considered the latter as ungrateful protegds, 
who, after being delivered from their enemies, would leave 
their protectors to starve; the latter denied their obliga- 
tion to maintain their so-called deliverers, urged their 
liberal advances to the common cause, and referred them 
to the Congress.^ 

Thus every day the relation between the army and the 
people became more strained. New difficulties were daily 
presenting themselves. The rumors of peace checked the 
sale of goods, and the plundering crews of small craft from 
St. Augustine, as in the days of the early settlement of the 
province, so infested the coast and inlets as often to inter- 
cept the provisioning vessels, there being no other means 
of transportation. If this supply failed, impressment must 
follow, and the general knew not what might be the con- 
sequences. He might have found himself cooped up in 
his military territory of James Island, or forced to open 
his way from it with the bayonet. The smothered feeling 
— that the State had been abandoned by Congress in the 
most critical periods, a feeling shared and expressed by 
Greene himself ; that she had been saved by her own sons 
when there was not a Continental soldier within her 
borders; that when her sons had opened the way for the 
return of the Continental army, that body, with the 
concurrence of its commander, had assumed airs of superi- 
ority and arrogance galling to her own leaders ; and that 
now, before the war was actually over, her people were left 
to support those who bore themselves more as conquerors 
than deliverers — had now broken out. Congress and its 
minions became most unpopular. The people believed 
their newly acquired State sovereignty already in danger, 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 391. 



IN THE EEVOLUTION 701 

and rallied around it with ardor and enthusiasm.^ It has 
been well observed that, happily for the people of the 
United States, Great Britain desisted from the contest 
exactly at that point of time when she ought most to have 
pressed it. She had regained the mastery of the ocean ; 
Charlestown lay exposed without a piece of cannon to 
defend it ; a few frigates could at any time have repossessed 
it ; and three thousand men had only to move forward to 
regain the control in the three Southern States.^ 

On the 16th of April, the South-Carolina Grazette and 
Greneral Advertiser announced the arrival, at General 
Greene's headquarters, of an express with the news of the 
confirmation of a general peace having been concluded. 
Unhappily, with the news of the approach of peace came 
also a confirmation of that of the mutinous condition of the 
Northern army, and of the famous Newburg address, calling 
upon the army to retain their swords until their wrongs 
were redressed and their services rewarded. The effect 
upon the temper and discipline of the Southern army was 
immediately felt. As none of the soldiers were enlisted for 
a period beyond the war, they began all to clamor for their 
discharges, contending that they had an immediate right to 
be released from duty. In the Maryland line, particularly, 
it required all the energy of their officers to prevent a 
general insurrection and their moving off in a body. Upon 
one occasion General Greene had actually to draw up the 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 393. This hostile sentiment to the 
Continental army and impressments was not limited to South Carolina, 
says Johnson. It is not easy to conceive how it would have been possible 
for the Southern commander, perhaps for the United States, to have 
maintained another campaign. The people were utterly worn out and 
disgusted with the system of impressments and specific contributions, and 
the refusal in some States to contribute their quotas in cash or permit the 
collection of a duty must have produced (and finally did produce) a 
general resolution of the States to the same effect. ^ jn^. 



702 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 



4 



troops in whom he could confide, charge his artillery wit' 
grape, and post the artillerists with lighted matches to' 
awe down the mutinous spirit which had indicated itself 
by the most unequivocal signs. The cavalry, which had 
been sent to the Congaree for the convenience of forage, 
broke through all control ; one hundred of them, placing a 
Sergeant Dangerfield at their head, moved off in a body, 
and actually seized the horses of those who would not join 
them, and apportioned them to their own use. 

Orders were received from the Secretary of War for fur- 
loughing the troops until the signing of the definitive 
articles of peace, which were immediately carried into effect 
as to the few troops of South Carolina and Georgia ; but 
those of North Carolina and Virginia were ordered to their 
respective States to be furloughed, and those of Maryland 
and Pennsylvania it was proposed to send home by water. 
A trifle of pay had been voted them by Congress, and as 
soon as that could be distributed the troops of North Caro- 
lina and Virginia were promptly despatched ; but such 
were the delays that attended the collection of transports 
that the other troops did not get off until July, 1783. 
Nothing could exceed the uneasiness that this occasioned. 
A contract had been entered into by Mr, Morris with some 
merchants in Philadelphia to furnish the necessary trans- 
ports, but from dela3'S in collecting them, and their un- 
usually long passage, the stay of the army was protracted 
until the diseases of the climate began to reappear among 
them. Their murmurs then ran high ; they charged the 
government with having deceived them, and hundreds who 
had served, some for seven years, deserted in groups, and 
forfeited their pay. Nearly one-third of their number 
were on the sick list when the transports left Charlestown.^ 
Upon arriving at Philadelphia, these remnants of the 
1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 398-400. 



I 



IN" THE REVOLUTION" 703 

Southern army, as it was called, were received with the 
ringing of bells and every other testimony which a gratified 
people could render to their merits and services. St. 
Michael's bells would have rung for joy upon their depar- 
ture from South Carolina, had those bells not been carried 
off by the British. Their reception in Philadelphia was 
soon after rewarded by outrage and renewed mutiny.^ 

But whatever were the sentiments of the State in regard 
to the army and its commander, the legislature stood 
liberally to its purpose of rewarding General Greene for 
his services. Boone's Barony, a very valuable body of 
land on the south of the Edisto, with a portion of the 
slaves attached to the land as the property of one of the 
confiscated estates, were ordered by the legislature to be 
conveyed to General Greene ; the rest of the negroes be- 
longing to the plantation, the legislature, upon his appli- 
cation, set a value upon, and allowed a credit to enable 
General Greene to purchase them. The slaves were valued 
and transferred to him. And thus, as it was observed, the 
Rhode Island Quaker soldier became a South Carolina 
slaveholder and planter. He did not, however, remain in 
South Carolina. He removed to Georgia, where he settled 
upon a plantation called Mulberry Grove, confiscated prop- 
erty which had been bestowed upon him by the State of 
Georgia. There he died, on the 19th of June, 1786. 

In reviewing the events of the few months which had 
elapsed since the evacuation of Charlestown, one would 
almost imagine, says Johnson, that we had proposed to 
trace the origin and progress of anti-federalism, to develop 
the causes that led to the adoption of the Federal Consti- 
tution, or the distribution of parties into Federal and 
Republican. 

1 Johnson's Life of Greene, vol. II, 398-400 ; Marshall's Life of Wash- 
ington, vol. IV, 616. 



CONCLUSION 

We have now accomplished the purpose announced in 
the introductory chapter to this history of South Carolina. 
We have traced the development of the State, socially and 
politically, from the inception of the colony to the end 
of the American Revolution. The thirteen colonies, after 
seven years' struggle, we have now seen recognized as in- 
dependent of Great Britain, and South Carolina a sovereign 
State. 

A brief review of the salient points of the story will be 
a fitting conclusion to our work. 

The isolated position of the colony of South Carolina 
from its inception to its ultimate development as a State 
has been pointed out. The colony had been planted in a 
far-away position — an outpost — as an assertion of Britannic 
right to disputed territory ; so planted, it had been left to 
struggle for its existence against Spaniards, French, and 
Indians, with but such little assistance as her twin sister, 
North Carolina, could occasionally afford. She was a British 
colony planted for imperial purposes of the mother country, 
and yet, with one exception, that of Oglethorpe's regiment, 
which passed through Charlestown on its way to Florida in 
1738, no British troops set foot upon her soil until 1760, 
when Montgomery's regiment was sent to meet the Chero- 
kees, who had been set on to the British frontier by the 
French, with whom England was at war. For nearly 
seventy years, that is, from 1670 to 1738, the colony had 
struggled alone, without the aid of a British soldier, against 
Indians, Spaniards, and French, the enemies of Great Brit- 

704 



IN THE REVOLUTION 705 

ain, and against pirates, the enemies of mankind. Then 
had been planted the feeble colony of Georgia, between 
the Spaniards in Florida and the colony in South Carolina. 
To disasters of all kinds the Carolina colony had opposed 
a stubborn resistance, and with slow growth had gradually 
developed into a small but wealthy community. 

There were essential differences, as we have seen, 
between South Carolina and the other colonies, in the 
source of her institution, and in the manner of their devel- 
opment. These had not originated, so to speak, on her 
own soil, but had been transferred with her first settlers, in 
an advanced condition of development, from the British 
West Indies, principally from Barbadoes, the settlers 
bringing with them institutions of a planters' colony, social, 
civil, and military, all based upon that of African slavery. 

Isolated from the other colonies, left to struggle for 
existence as best they might, the people of South Carolina 
early learned the lesson of self-reliance, and with indepen- 
dence of the Proprietors for defence, they grew restless of 
their authority, and were the first colonists successfully to 
rebel against the government provided for them in England. 
The revolution "of the people," as it was termed in 1719, 
it is true, was connived at, if not even to some extent at 
least instigated, by those at home, who wished to recover 
for the king the authority recklessly granted to the Pro- 
prietors. But it was a dangerous appeal, that of the king 
to the people; and so the prediction of the time that if 
that " revolt is not crop't in the bud, they [the people] will 
set up for themselves against his Majesty," was ultimately 
fulfilled. The revolt of 1719 was not cropped in the bud, 
and the people, tasting of the power to put down one and 
set up another, had now overthrown the Proprietor for the 
king. The time was to come when they would overthrow 
the king for themselves. 

VOL. IV. — 2z 



706 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

But circumstances conspired for half a century to prevent 
any such desire. South Carolina became the favored colony 
of Great Britain, and under the first two Georges, though 
but few troops were sent to her assistance against the Span- 
iards, the French, and Indians, she was, on the other hand, 
left with but little interference, to prosper and accumulate 
wealth. Indeed, her treatment by the mother country was 
not only merely passively favorable ; she was the recipient 
of beneficial measures in her development. Two great 
staple crops were found adapted to her soil and climate, 
and susceptible of profitable cultivation by negro labor, and 
for the accommodation of this her trade, the navigation 
laws of England — that upon which it was believed that the 
greatness of the kingdom depended — were modified, and 
bounties were generously given to induce the cultivation 
of other products for the market at home. True, she was 
still in a great measure restricted to commerce with the 
mother country ; but as the mother country took all her 
commodities at remunerative prices, she felt no burdens in 
restriction of her trade. And herein lay a great difference 
between herself and most of the others, especially the 
Northern colonies. The navigation laws of Cromwell, 
enforced after the Restoration with even greater strictness 
and severity than in the days of the Commonwealth, did 
not materially affect her interests while they crushed and 
ruined the interests of others. 

Her commerce was not only undisturbed by those laws 
so ruinous to others, but led to closer relations with the 
mother country. The intercourse between London and 
Charlestown became as close as that which had been so 
long maintained between Bridgetown, Barbadoes, and the 
great city ; an intercourse so intimate that the West 
Indian was said to be more familiar with the streets of 
London than the British squire who lived within a few 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 707 

miles of the city. The Carolina Coffee House was a 
London institution. Scarcely a week passed that some 
vessel did not sail for England from Charlestown, and 
few of these did not carry passengers. The regular 
packets were filled with travellers to and fro across the 
ocean. There were few people in Charlestown who had 
not crossed and recrossed the Atlantic. In this, as has 
appeared, the people of Carolina were different from 
those of the Northern States, in which we are told that 
a man who had been to Europe was pointed out as a 
curiosity. And so it was that, out of a list of 114 
Americans admitted as members of the Inns of Court 
in London in the twenty-seven 3'^ears from 1759 to 1786, 
46 were South Carolinians, and of the 30 Americans in 
London in 1774 who petitioned Parliament against the 
Boston Port Bill, 15 were from South Carolina. 

The sons of the opulent of South Carolina were 
sent to England for their education, and after passing 
through Oxford or Cambridge, not infrequently remained 
to eat commons at the Temple, and to return, not only 
with their academic degrees, but as English barristers as 
well. The taste for British politics, thus inspired, became 
a part of the lives of the people. It was upon this that 
was founded the Charlestown Library Society in 1748, 
when a few young men were associated, and contributed 
among themselves for the purpose of raising a fund to 
collect new pamphlets and papers published in Great 
Britain — thus to keep abreast of the times "at home," 
and to follow the struggle between the great orators 
and pamphleteers as they fought for Whigs or Tories. 
Thus it was, that, regardless of Wilkes's personal char- 
acter, the leaders in South Carolina warmly espoused his 
cause as that of liberty, and associated it with the strug- 
gle over the Stamp Act. The conduct of the people in 



708 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

the Wilkes case was similar to that pursued by them in 
regard to the Stamp Act and to the tax on tea. In 
neither case had they any material interest at stake. 
In the matter of the Stamp Act and in that of the tax on 
tea, they entered into the contest as a matter of principle, 
and a sympathy with the people of the Northern States, 
who were so grievously oppressed by the navigation laws. 
But in all this agitation, it was English politics which 
the young men were discussing. The people, young and 
old, abhorred the idea of a severance of their ties to the 
mother country which New England began to agitate. 
The revolutionists in South Carolina were Chathamites. 
But step by step, almost unconsciously, they were drawn 
into the struggle, and then from resistance to revolution, 
from revolution to independence. 

It can hardly be doubted that the people of South Caro- 
lina as a whole had been at first by a vast majority opposed 
to separation. The extreme Revolutionary party was 
confined to the coast, and even in that region there were 
many, very many, who, though for resistance to the uncon- 
stitutional proceedings of Parliament, as they conceived, 
regarded with horror the very idea of being no longer a 
part of the great British Empire ; while in the Up-Coun- 
try the Scotch-Irish and the newly come Virginians in 
the middle country were too busy with their new settle- 
ments to be concerning themselves with questions which 
they regarded as but Low-Country politics. What concern 
was it to them whether stamps were required on legal 
papers or not, when there were no courts in their section 
in which to use them, and when for their protection 
against horse thieves and other criminals they were forced 
to the necessity of organizing courts of regulators, which 
became as dangerous almost as the evils from which they 
were established to protect them? Why ask them to 



IN THE BEVOLUTION 709 

fight against taxation without representation in Parlia- 
ment in England, when they had no representation in the 
General Assembly which met in Charlestown? It was 
most unfortunate that the Revolution found the people of 
the province, by and large, in an inchoate condition. The 
normal order of settlement of the country had been, as we 
have seen, suddenly changed. Prior to 1750 immigration 
had come by way of the sea, and from Charlestown had 
pushed up the rivers, carrying with it the civil and social 
organization of the coast ; but in the eighty years since the 
beginning of the colony, the settlement of the province 
had extended but little beyond the falls of the rivers. 
Then, after Braddock's defeat, had come the immense tide 
of population from Pennsylvania and Virginia by way of 
the foot of the mountains, filling up that region with 
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and some Germans, and the mid- 
dle country with English Virginians, until it was estimated 
that those sections contained two-thirds of the population 
of the State. This immigration had come, not as individ- 
uals and families, but as communities, bringing with them 
their own religious and social systems. It is remarkable, 
too, that it had come so quietly that the old colonists on 
the coast, sitting in their Assembly, elected from parishes 
organized under the Church of England, were scarcely 
aware of the presence of such a people until they found 
themselves outnumbered in the province. Measures for 
the extension of the parish system and the establishment 
of schools for the children and courts for the people had 
been contemplated, and it will be recollected to some ex- 
tent inaugurated, by the General Assembly ; but had been 
effectually stifled in London by the sine cure holders of 
patent offices living in England, whose interests would 
thereby be affected, and who through court influence re- 
quired to be bought off before such measures should be 



710 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

allowed to pass. This had been done, and courts pro- 
vided had actually been opened ; but the parishes had not 
yet been extended, nor had provision yet been made for 
giving the people in the back country representation in 
the Assembly when the Revolution began. For this con- 
dition of things the newcomers held the people on the 
coast responsible, and ridiculed the idea of being called 
upon to join in rebellion against the mother country be- 
cause Parliament in England taxed the American colonies 
without giving them representation, when they on the 
coast did the same in regard to themselves. 

It was an unfortunate condition of affairs for which the 
Low-Country people were not altogether, if indeed at all, 
to blame ; but so it happened that the Revolution found 
the people of South Carolina radically divided in a man- 
ner in no wise connected with the questions between 
Great Britain and the colonies. The Scotch-Irish Presby- 
terians, above the falls of the rivers, enjoying religious 
freedom to a greater extent than ever before, and however 
zealous for political freedom as well, more concerned then 
with settling their new homes than with the theoretical 
questions agitated on the coast, turned a deaf ear to the 
commissioners sent to appeal to them to join in the strug- 
gle against the king. With but few exceptions they re- 
frained from taking any part in the struggle until rudely 
awakened by Tarleton's slaughter of Buford's men in 
the Waxhaws, and the burning and desecration of their 
churches upon the assumption that, as the dissenters in 
New England were the leaders in the Revolution, the 
dissenters in South Carolina must necessarily be rebels 
as well. 

But it so happened that, divided as South Carolina was 
upon the subject of the Revolution, not only upon its 
general merits, but also as to the extent to which it should 



IN THE REVOLUTION 711 

be carried, the first decisive victory for the American 
cause was that of Fort Moultrie in Charlestown harbor. 

It was, indeed, a striking incident, to which we have be- 
fore called attention, that when, on the 28th of June, 1776, 
Jefferson at Philadelphia was laying on the table of Con- 
gress the draft of the Declaration of Independence, and 
the delegates from South Carolina were hesitating as to 
their course, his doing so was, all unconsciously, saluted 
in Charlestown harbor by the roar of artillery as the guns 
of the British fleet were pouring their broadsides into the 
little log fort on Sullivan's Island. We have seen the de- 
cisive consequences of that gi-eat victory, one of the most 
brilliant of the whole Revolution — a victory in which, 
on the American side, none but South Carolinian blood 
was shed. 

The victory of Fort Moultrie secured three years of 
comparative quiet to the South, while the war of the 
Revolution was waged at the North, though in that time 
her Continental troops had been greatly reduced by the 
ill-advised expedition against the British in Florida, an 
expedition in which an army was wasted without a battle 
having been fought. Then the war was transferred to 
the South, and South Carolina became its theatre — its 
bloody ground — its bloodiest ground in all the country. 

Upon the evacuation of Boston in March, 1776, the first 
British movement, as we have seen, had been the expedi- 
tion of Sir Peter Parker and Sir Henry Clinton against 
the Southern States, which had culminated in the attack 
upon Charlestown harbor, and the disastrous defeat of the 
British fleet and army. Then for three years the conflict 
had been confined almost entirely to the Northern States, 
in which the first object had been, by a joint movement 
from Canada down the lakes under Burgoyne, and up the 
Hudson from New York by Sir William Howe, to cut off 



712 HISTOKY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and isolate the New England States, which it was assumed 
in England would end the war. That movement had like- 
wise ended disastrously, the whole of Burgoyne's army 
having been captured. Then " Mr. Lee's plan " of carry- 
ing the war into the middle States and capturing the city 
of Philadelphia, the seat of government of the rebel States, 
had most extraordinarily been followed by the two Howes 
at the instance of the traitor Charles Lee, while a prisoner 
in their hands, to the abandonment of the plan of campaign 
before agreed upon by the two brothers, Lord Howe and 
Sir William, in conference with the War Office in London. 
Philadelphia had been taken, but the campaign had proved 
abortive. The Howes had been recalled. Sir Henry Clin- 
ton appointed commander-in-chief, and a new programme 
arranged by the British ministry, based upon two principal 
ideas : (1) the carrying the war " from South to North," 
and (2) " the conquering of America by Americans." 

This plan, it will be observed, was but a recurrence to 
that of 1776, which had been based upon the belief, not 
without foundation, that the Revolutionary movement in 
the South was confined almost entirely to the coast of 
the two Carolinas, that the people of the interior of these 
provinces were hostile to the governments in the Low- 
Country, and ready to rise against them, that especially 
was this the case in North Carolina. It was believed that, 
if the British could but penetrate to the region in which 
the Scotch refugees from CuUoden, who now, strange to 
say, were of all people in America the most loyal to the 
house of Hanover, to wit, the neighborhood of Cross 
Creek, in which the town of Fayetteville now stands, that 
they might establish a Royal government there, in the rear 
of the seats of the State governments on the coast; and 
that, having done so, the people would flock to the Royal 
standard; that a full regiment of Highlanders would be 



IN THE REVOLUTION 713 

formed to join the British when they reached that point, 
and that the strength of their army would be greatly in- 
creased as they marched through the country, gathering 
recruits at every point ; that with this growing army they 
would march triumphantly through Virginia to the Chesa- 
peake and thence on northwardly. These were the basic 
ideas of the campaign to be conducted upon the transfer- 
ence of the war to the South. 

The movement began, it will be recollected, upon the 
rejection by Congress of the terms of peace brought by the 
peace commissioners from England in 1778. The British 
garrisons in Florida were strengthened, and General Prevost 
directed to move from that quarter, while a considerable 
force under Colonel Campbell was despatched from New 
York to form a junction with him. Savannah was promptly 
taken by Colonel Campbell, who followed up his success 
by an advance into the interior of Georgia and the defeat 
of the American force under General Ashe at Brier Creek. 
Then in 1779 had followed Moultrie's affair at Beaufort 
and Prdvost's expedition into South Carolina, in which he 
had nearly succeeded in taking the city of Charlestown ; 
then had been fought the battle of Stono, the year 1779 
closing with the disastrous siege of Savannah by the com- 
bined French and American forces. These had been but 
the beginning of the long and terrible warfare to be waged 
in South Carolina. 

Prdvost's march had been begun, not with any expec- 
tation of reaching Charlestown, but more as a feint, or 
threat, to recall General Lincoln, the Continental officer 
who had superseded Howe in command of the American 
forces in the South, from a movement of his towards 
Augusta to counteract the effect of Ashe's defeat at Brier 
Creek in Georgia ; failing to accomplish that object, Lincoln 
understanding its original purpose, and not believing that 



714 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAEOLINA 

Provost would have the temerity to press on to the city, 
Provost had nearly succeeded in taking it. He had failed 
to do so, but his march had not been without results of the 
greatest importance. He had marked the road to the city 
and demonstrated that its true approach was not from the 
sea, but through the various inlets in its rear. His raid 
liad also sliovvn the immense wealth of the region through 
which it had been made, and had given a substantial ear- 
nest of the spoils to be obtained ; and more, it had shown 
the divisions of the people, the unreliability of the militia 
of the country, and the military weakness because of the 
negro slaves. The losses in the battle of Stono, at Beaufort, 
and in the siege of Savannah, Sir Henry Clinton well knew, 
were irreparable to the Americans. The time had arrived, 
therefore, for the more decisive inauguration of the grand 
ministerial plan of carrying the war from South to North. 
His scheme for the fulfilment of this plan of campaign 
was by calling in his forces around New York, to leave a 
part of them under Lieutenant-General Knyphausen to con- 
front Washington on the Hudson during the winter, while, 
with the bulk of his army, he proceeded by sea to Savan- 
nah, under the convoy of Admiral Arbuthnot, who had 
just arrived with a reenforcement from England, and land- 
ing there and on the islands near Charlestown, to advance 
upon the city, which, knowing the great weakness of the 
Continental army, and the impossibility of any adequate 
reenforcements by Washington overland from New York, 
it was assumed would speedily be taken ; this accom- 
plished, Sir Henry, leaving a sufficient part of the army 
under Lord Cornwallis to make a triumphal march through 
the Carolinas and Virginia, he would return with the rest 
of the army to New York ; all this was to be done in mid- 
winter, while the ice and snow would prevent operations at 
the North. As we have before shown, this plan was the 



IN THE REVOLUTION 715 

prototype of Slieniiaii's march to the sea, and from the sea 
to the rear of Lee's army in 1865, even to the detail, which 
had been arranged, that Sir Henry Clinton, after his return 
to New York, should send an expedition to land at Ports- 
mouth, Virginia, which, moving across that State, should 
meet Cornwallis on his arrival there, who, with the joint 
forces, was to proceed to Baltimore and thence northward as 
circumstances would allow. This part of the scheme, it 
will be observed, was that followed in 1865, when General 
Terrj^'s expedition was landed at Wilmington and joined 
Sherman in North Carolina. This was the grand plan 
which Sir Henry Clinton had undertaken to carry out. 

We have seen the result — Charlestown would not at 
once fall. Her walls would not come down as Jericho's did, 
not even in six days, though the men of war compassed her 
about, and the trumpets were blown! Time pressed Sir 
Henry, but the city would not surrender. Time, indeed, was 
now very precious to the British. The season for active 
operations at the North was approaching, and it behooved Sir 
Henry to get back to New York as soon as possible, lest 
Washington, taking advantage of his absence, might, with 
a recruited army, fall upon Knyphausen's depleted force. 
At last, on the 12th of May, the city capitulated, and Sir 
Henry at once addressed himself to the securing of the 
fruits of his victory. He had captured the great bulk of 
the Continental army in the Southern States, which he held 
as prisoners. In order to get in the militia of the State, 
he now offered the same terms to all who would come in 
and surrender as he had allowed the troops in the city. 
His offer was accepted, and large numbers laid down their 
arms, gave their paroles, and accepted certificates of pro- 
tection of their property. But time was passing, and a 
new cause for anxiety arose. Late in April the Marquis 
de Lafayette had arrived at Boston on his return from 



716 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

his native country, which he had obtained permission to 
revisit, and where he had been received with every mark 
of favor and distinction at the Court of Versailles, and 
from which he had brought information that his Most 
Christian Majesty had consented to send a considerable 
land and naval force to assist in the ensuing campaign. 
The British had learned of this, and it became of the 
greatest importance that Sir Henry Clinton should bring 
matters to a close in South Carolina, and be able to return 
to New York with part of his army before the French 
expedition should reach America. In this emergency he 
fell upon the unfortunate device of revoking the paroles 
he had taken, and issuing a proclamation, on the 3d of 
June, declaring that all inhabitants of the province who 
were prisoners on parole and were not in the regular 
military line, should, from the 20th of that month, be freed 
and exempted from all such paroles and be restored to all 
the rights and duties of citizens, and that all such persons 
who should neglect to return to their allegiance and due 
submission to his Majesty's government, should be con- 
sidered as enemies and rebels to the same, and be treated 
accordingly; upon this point, as we have seen, the con- 
tinuance of the Revolution in South Carolina turned. 
Having issued this proclamation. Sir Henry sailed for New 
York with four thousand men, and reached that place just 
in time to escape an encounter with the French fleet and 
army, which arrived at Newport on the 12th of July. 

Upon the fall of Charlestown the British troops had at 
once been advanced into the interior of the State, and the 
slaughter of a Virginia regiment which had been sent to 
reenforce Lincoln's army in the South, had taken place 
in the Waxhaws under circumstances of great atrocity. 
British posts were established at Ninety Six, Camden, and 
Cheraw. And so it was that Sir Henry Clinton, just 



IN THE REVOLUTION 717 

before his departure for New York, with great assurance, 
could write to Lord George Germain, Secretary of State 
for War in England, that he could venture to assert that 
there were few men in South Carolina who were not either 
prisoners or with the British. But Lord Cornwallis, his 
successor, was soon to realize how fallacious were such 
appearances. The Continental army under Gates, sent by 
Washington to bar his path on his march to the north- 
ward, he had met at Camden, promptly defeated and 
routed, and the road, at least as far as Cross Creek, the 
former 'trysting place, where the British and Tories were 
to meet and set up the government in the interior, 
seemed clear and open. But there was a lion in his path! 
Misunderstanding the condition of affairs in South Caro- 
lina, and assuming, as we have observed, that because the 
dissenters in New England had been the moving spirits 
in the Revolution, that the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in 
North and South Carolina were likewise rebels, Tarleton 
and Huck had dashed in among them, slaughtered Bu- 
ford's men, and cut and slashed among these people, who 
had really as yet taken but little part in the struggle. The 
British had, indeed, stirred up a hornet's nest. Scotch- 
Irish blood was never slow at taking fire ! If as rebels 
they were to be treated, rebels they indeed would be ! A 
man, too, was found to lead them. Sumter, without a 
commission from either the State or Congress, gathering a 
little party at Clem's Creek, in the Waxhaws, just below 
the line between North and South Carolina, was joined there 
by Hill, Neel, and Lacey, and Henry and Richard Hampton, 
and the Taylors and Bratton, and McLure and Winn, and 
Williams and Brandon, and by the Virginians recently 
come into the province, and refugees from the Low-Country, 
and these all, with Davie's little band of North Carolinians 
as a nucleus, formed and organized themselves as partisan 



718 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

bands to stem the tide of British progress. Assisted only 
by a few similar small bands from North Carolina and 
upper Georgia, Sumter first raised the fallen standard of 
American independence in a country which was overrun 
by British troops, and claimed by the British commander 
to be conquered. 

Marion, who had fortunately escaped capture upon the 
fall of Charlestown, had hastened to join the Continental 
army advancing through North Carolina, and, still more 
fortunately despised by Gates, had been sent on by that 
officer to gather up boats on the Pee Dee, — in truth, 
to get him and his ragged associates away from his regular 
army. Marion had done more than gather boats on the 
Pee Dee. There he too raised the standard of indepen- 
dence, and gathered not only boats, but men, and organized 
a partisan corps like Sumter's. With him were the two 
Horrys, Peter and Hugh, the Jameses, McCottry, Baxter, 
and Vanderhorst. These partisan bands in a month, from 
the 12th of July to the 12th of August, in twelve engage- 
ments, had inflicted a loss upon the enemy of five hundred 
men, at a loss to themselves of but half that number. The 
field had thus been thoroughly prepared for Gates's ad- 
vance, but that vainglorious officer had been met by Lord 
Cornwallis at Camden, and utterly defeated. 

The Continental army routed and dispersed, the cause of 
American independence was now abandoned to the defence 
of the partisan bands in South Carolina. The French fleet 
and army, which had arrived at Newport on the 12th of 
July, having gone into that harbor and disembarked, and 
the British recovering the command of the water by the 
arrival of a reenforcement to its navy, had been caught 
and locked up there, where they remained for a year, 
"bottled up," to use a later famous expression. Time was 
now again of the utmost consequence to the British plan 



IN THE REVOLUTION 719 

of campaign. If Cornwallis could now have pressed on, 
reached Cross Creek, and found there the assistance he 
had been told to expect, had received the expected addi- 
tion to his army, and had then pushed on to Virginia, it is 
not improbable he might have carried out the grand plan 
of campaign while the French lay cooped up at Newport. 
It behooved him, therefore, to move, and he did so. But 
he could not throw off the partisans of Sumter, Marion, 
Davie, Clarke, Shelby, and Sevier. They hung upon his 
flanks, opposed his march, and broke up his communica- 
tions, and finally, at King's Mountain, defeated and killed 
Ferguson and captured his command. Notwithstanding 
the brilliancy of Tarleton's movements, now after Marion, 
and then after Sumter, Cornwallis, who had reached Char- 
lotte, in spite of Davie's small corps, which had held him 
at bay for some time, and had advanced some distance be- 
yond, found himself obliged to abandon his march, so nec- 
essary to the accomplishment of the British campaign, and 
not only himself to return with his army to South Carolina 
and take position at Winnsboro, but to send to Leslie, whom 
Sir Henry Clinton had despatched to Virginia to meet 
him there, orders to abandon the attempt to form a junction 
with him in Virginia, and to come by sea to Charlestown, 
and thence to join him at Winnsboro. Thus had these 
volunteer bands, without assistance from Congress, broken 
up the plans of the enemy, and detained the army of 
invasion in the backwoods of South Carolina. In these 
affairs the partisan bands of North and South Carolina and 
Georgia had killed, wounded, and taken prisoners of the 
enemy three times as many men as they had themselves 
lost. 

It is difficult to overestimate the results of the work of 
these volunteers in South Carolina at this juncture. It is 
not the language of extravagance to say that they had 



720 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

rendered the most essential and vital service to the whole 
country in an hour of its greatest extremity. True, they 
did not know of the grand ministerial plan which Lord 
Cornwallis had been charged to carry out, and upon which 
he was then embarked, and with which they were so ma- 
terially interfering. They probably did not know that the 
French fleet, from the assistance of which so much had 
been expected, was cooped up at Newport, nor how im- 
portant it was to delay and prevent the consummation of the 
British plans until it could be released — in short, they 
did not know what great consequences would flow from 
their exertions to harass and retard the British on their 
march through the State ; but they acted upon each 
occasion, as it presented itself, of striking a blow in behalf 
of liberty ; content with performing small things as the 
opportunity allowed, they accomplished great results in the 
cause of the common country. Huck's defeat, Flat Rock, 
Rocky Mount, Hanging Rock, Musgrove's Mills, Nel- 
son's Ferry, Fishdam, and Blackstock, and even King's 
Mountain, were small affairs as great wars go, but they 
counted up to great proportions in the end. It is not, 
perhaps, too much to say that at a most critical moment 
they saved the cause of liberty and independence in 
America. 

But now came General Nathanael Greene — the '''■Deputy 
Saviour," as he has been almost blasphemously styled — 
to reap the fruits and the honors not only of what had 
been already done by the partisan bands, but of what they 
should thereafter do. General Greene brought with him 
his stail, and Lee's Legion followed him. We have seen 
the false position he first took, and the unfortunate letter 
he wrote to Sumter upon assuming command of the de- 
partment. It will be remembered how complacently he had 
regarded his position at Cheraw. It made, he thought, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 721 

the most of his inferior force. It compelled his adversary 
to divide his, and held him in doubt as to his own line of 
conduct. The enemy could not leave Morgan, whom he 
had sent to threaten Ninety Six, to come against him, or 
his post at Ninety Six would be exposed. He could not 
go after Morgan or prosecute his views upon Virginia 
while he was there with the whole country before him. 
He was as near Charlestown as was Cornwallis. But al- 
though, he added, there was nothing to obstruct his march 
to Charlestown, he was far from having such a design in 
contemplation, in the present relative positions and strength 
of the two armies. In all this the result showed that 
General Greene was utterly at fault. He had divided his 
army, sending Morgan with his best regiment, and all his 
cavalry except that of Lee's Legion, to the west of the 
Broad to threaten Ninety Six. Lee's Legion he had sent 
to Georgetown while he rested upon the eastern bank of 
the Pee Dee. Morgan defeated Tarleton at Cowpens, but, 
notwithstanding this, Cornwallis, who had drawn Leslie 
over the Catawba, and united his command with his own, 
without hesitation or regard for Greene's position on his 
flank, moved forward between the Catawba and the Broad 
on his march to North Carolina. The two great rivers, the 
Catawba and the Pee Dee, protected his flank, while Lord 
Rawdon was left at Camden with a force sufficient to for- 
bid any advance by Greene upon Charlestown had the 
latter contemplated such a movement. 

Finding himself mistaken as to the supposed advantages 
of his position. General Greene appears to have lost his 
judgment. Turning over the command of what army he 
had to General Huger, he adopted the most extraordinary 
course of going himself to hunt Morgan in the woods of 
North Carolina. With only a guide, one aide, and a ser- 
geant's guard of cavalry, he struck out upon a mad ride 

VOL. IV. — 3 a 



722 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

of 125 miles across the county, and across the line of his 
adversary's advance. Owing to the delay of his lordship 
at Ramsour's^ Mill for two days, Greene happily succeeded 
in finding Morgan, on the 30th of January, at Sherard's 
Ford. But what was the purpose, or where the necessity, 
of the exposure of the commander of the department to 
the betrayal of Tories who infested the country, and other 
great dangers of such a journey ? Was not Morgan quite 
as able to take care of the small party he had, as was Huger 
to the safe conduct of the rest of the army ? His object, 
doubtless, was to effect a junction of the two divisions of 
his army at some point in front of the British advance, 
and for this purpose to communicate with Morgan. But 
this would have been effected quite as well by couriers or 
scouts as by the commander of the department himself in 
person. Indeed, as soon as he found Morgan, he had to 
communicate again with Huger, but as he could not, like 
Oglethorpe in his Florida campaign, be riding back and 
forth, he had now to content himself with but a letter to 
Huger. 

There was nothing in this first essay of the new com- 
mander to inspire confidence in his military judgment. He 
had manifestly been mistaken in the disposition of his 
forces, and had been out-manoeuvred by his opponent, not- 
withstanding Morgan's brilliant victory. So evident was 
this, that, in the popular mind, his utter ruin at the time, 
says his devoted biographer, was saved only by a miracu- 
lous rise of the Yadkin, which prevented the British 
advance. What really did save him was the delay of 
Cornwallis at Ramsour's Mill to destroy his baggage. Then 
had followed the campaign in North Carolina, culminating 
in the battle of Guilford Court-house, in which Greene 
was defeated, but Cornwallis, crippled by his losses, unable 
to take advantage of his victory, and falling back to the 



IN THE REVOLUTION 723 

coast for supplies, became the pursued instead of the 
pursuer. 

In the meanwhile, though the State had again been 
abandoned by the Continental army, the war had not 
therefore ceased in her limits. Sumter and Marion had 
not retired from the field, though the former was suffering 
badly from the wound received at Blackstock in Novem- 
ber. In the three months of Greene's absence, in 1781, the 
partisan bands had now added twenty-six more engagements 
to the same number they had fought in 1780. Sumter 
with his rough riders had raided around Lord Rawdon's 
position at Camden, had attacked Fort Granby and the 
post at Thomson's plantation, and taken a large convoy and 
train on its way thither, and had taken Orangeburgh. He 
had thus penetrated between Camden and Ninety Six, had 
broken in upon Lord Rawdon's communications, and com- 
pleting the circle, had ended his campaign in an affair at 
the Waxhaws from which point he had started. In the 
same time Marion had been particularly busy, and had 
done some of his most brilliant work. He successfully 
baffled the concerted movements of Watson, Doyle, and 
McLeroth directed by Lord Rawdon to crush him. He 
had fought with more or less success the affairs of Wiboo 
Swamp, Mount Hope, Black River, Sampit Bridge, Snow 
Island, and Witherspoon's Ferry. He had sent Harden 
with a part of his command across the country to the lower 
part of the State, where Harden with brilliant success had 
carried the war into the rice fields, and taken post after 
post where the British looked not for an enemy. The 
partisan bands had thus again prepared the way for the 
return of the Continental army. 

General Greene having followed Lord Cornwallis to 
Ramsay's Mill, where his lordship changed the direction 
of his retreat, and from the road to South Carolina to that 



724 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

to Wilmington, Greene now made the movement upon 
which his reputation as a military leader has in great 
measure been built. But it has clearly appeared, as we 
think, that not only did General Greene not originate the 
plan, but that he never cordially approved it. He com- 
plained to Colonel Lee that he had been misled by him 
in adopting it. Preparatory to his movement into South 
Carolina, he writes to Sumter to join him when he reached 
the State. He calls upon Sumter for reenforceraents, as 
if Sumter had a regularly organized body of militia at his 
command, which he could bring out at any time if he 
chose. He misreads Sumter's plain reply, and lays up 
against him a lasting complaint that he had failed at this 
time to meet him with one thousand men independently of 
Marion's followers. He marches to attack Lord Rawdon, 
who, taking the initiative, moves out from Camden, meets, 
attacks, and defeats him at Hobkirk's Hill. Upon this 
defeat he determines again to abandon the State, and is 
only deterred from doing so by learning that Lord Rawdon, 
notwithstanding his victory, had evacuated Camden and 
was on his retreat towards Charles town. 

It was Sumter's, Marion's, and Harden's work during 
Greene's absence from the State that had compelled Rawdon 
to fall back. At Nelson's Ferry his lordship was met by 
Colonel Balfour, the commander at Charlestown, with the 
report that the whole country was once more in rebellion, 
and the provincial troops in the city in mutiny. In the 
meanwhile Sumter, Marion, and Lee had been busy again 
in Lord Rawdon's rear. Orangeburgh, Fort Motte, and 
Granby had been taken, and Sumter had ridden with his 
men to within fifty miles of Charlestown ; he had scoured 
the country, capturing horses and securing all the means 
of transportation in the way. Now was the time, he 
urged upon Greene, to strike a decisive blow. He urged 



IN THE REV^OLUTION 725 

him to call in all his forces, and, uniting them in one, to 
fall upon Rawdon's retreating army. True Lord Rawdon 
had not many days before defeated him at Hobkirk's Hill, 
but the prestige of that success had been entirely lost by 
his lordship's retreat, and by Balfour's discouraging reports 
of the rising of the people of the Low-Country. But 
Greene preferred to follow the old rule, never to leave a 
fortress in the rear, and turned aside to take the fort at 
Ninety Six, instead of pressing on after Rawdon. There 
he was not only detained for three whole weeks of the 
most precious time, but was repulsed, and obliged to raise 
the siege. While he lay before the post at Ninety Six, 
accident brought in British reenforcements, Rawdon was 
saved, and the country which the partisan bands had 
rescued from British control was again in their posses- 
sion. 

Pickens and Lee had, however, in the meanwhile, taken 
Augusta, and Rawdon, finding himself unable to hold 
Ninety Six, abandoned it as it would have been abandoned 
before had not Greene's investure prevented the receipt by 
Colonel Cruger, the commandant, of Rawdon's order for 
the purpose. Then, too late, Greene had given Sumter 
leave with Lee and all the partisan bands to make a dash 
towards Charlestown, to drive into its immediate vicinity the 
British outlying forces. The expedition was well planned, 
and its result brilliant in many of its details, but not as 
fully successful as it might have been had it not been for 
the jealousies of its leaders. Wade Hampton and Lee 
had indeed reached the very gates of the town, and killed, 
wounded, and captured the guards at the post but four 
miles from the city. The battle of Quinby Bridge had 
been fought, and fought not altogether unsuccessfully, 
but its complete success had not been attained because of 
the want of a cordial cooperation of the various bands 



726 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLIXA 

composing Sumter's command, especially by the want of 
Lee's usual zeal and activity. 

In the meanwhile, a general exchange of prisoners had 
taken place, under which the exiles at St. Augustine, the 
original leaders in the Revolution, had been released, but 
forbidden to return to the State, and their families 
banished from Charlestown. Contemporaneously therewith 
had occurred the capture and tragic death of Colonel Isaac 
Hayne. 

Upon the advance of Lord Cornwallis in Januar}'-, and 
the abandonment of the State by General Greene, Governor 
Rutledge, it will be remembered, had gone to Philadelphia, 
where he remained for some months, endeavoring to obtain 
assistance from Congress. As most of the State had now 
been recovered, he had returned, bringing with him some 
few necessaries, medical stores, etc., but nothing more. 
Establisliing himself at Camden, he began, under the great 
powers with which he was invested, to arrange for the 
restoration of some form of civil government and the reor- 
ganization of the militia in the recovered territory. For 
this purpose he had issued the proclamation for the election 
and convening of a General Assembly we have discussed. 
We have seen the work of the body thus convened — the 
Jacksonborough Assembly, as it was called — presenting the 
singular phenomenon of the most unwise and unjust legis- 
lation enacted by one of the most distinguished bodies that 
ever sat in this or any other State of the Union. Governor 
Rutledge 's reorganization of the militia resulted in the loss 
to the service of both Sumter and Harden. 

The battle which should have been fought in May, while 
the British Vv^ere in consternation at the numerous successes 
of the partisan bands and the rising of the people, and 
before the arrival of the fleet with reenforcements from 
Ireland, was now to take place — the last pitched battle of 



IN THE REVOLUTION 727 

the Revolution in South Carolina, and the last except that 
of Yorktown in the United States. It was fought, and both 
sides claimed the victory ; but Greene retired from the 
field, while Colonel Stuart, who commanded the British 
force, held it for the night, but was obliged to abandon it 
the next day and to fall back to Monck's Corner. INIuch 
blood was still to be shed in South Carolina, and many 
dreadful scenes between Whigs and Tories were to be 
enacted ; but none of these in any appreciable degree 
affected the situation of the contending parties. It is 
curious that, while the British were generally successful in 
the affairs and engagements in 1782, the general result was 
to drive in and circumscribe their forces into narrow and 
still narrower limits. 

It is difficult to understand the persistent hostility of 
Greene and Lee to Sumter ; it is still more so to understand 
the unwillingness of Marion to submit to his command, 
or even to cooperate with him, though appealed to by 
Governor Rutledge upon the subject ; but most of all we 
are at a loss to account for the manifest coolness of Gov- 
ernor Rutledge himself to one who, in the darkest hour of 
his country, had raised its fallen flag and stemmed the tide 
of conquest, and vv'hom he, Rutledge himself, had put in 
command of all the militia. We can understand to some 
extent the jealousy of Greene and of Lee of the fame 
which had already begun to attach to Sumter's name ; we 
can, with regret, understand that Marion may have indulged 
somewhat the same sentiment, though it was so unlike his 
character in every respect ; but we cannot refrain from 
asking ourselves where was the occasion of any such mo- 
tive on the part of John Rutledge? And yet, when at 
the instance of Greene he discriminated between Sumter's 
and Marion's men in favor of the latter, and practically 
broke up Sumter's command, he must have contemplated 



728 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

Sumter's resentment and resignation, and determined upon 
the course at the risk of losing his services. There is iu 
this strong inference that there must have been in Sumter's 
conduct something calling for such action, and yet, as we 
remember, it was but a few weeks before that the governor 
had assured Sumter that he had heard nothincr to his dis- 
paragement, and that should he do so, in justice to his merits 
and services, he would most certainly suspend judgment 
until he could hear from him in the matter. Reading the 
correspondence between Greene and Sumter alone, no one 
would imagine that there was the least difference or unkind 
feeling between them. Greene makes no complaint to 
Sumter of his conduct, and upon occasions is most flatter- 
ing to him ; Sumter is most assiduous in his letters to Greene, 
writing not only almost daily, but at times repeatedly in the 
same day ; nor in all these letters of his can we find a suspicion 
upon his part of the want of the most entire confidence in 
him on the part of his commander ; and yet we have the 
contemporaneous correspondence between Greene and Lee, 
carried on in part in cipher, in which they join in speaking 
of Sumter in the most disparaging manner, and heaping 
upon him the responsibility and blame for all the failures 
of the campaign. Is it any wonder that, in after life, 
when he came to know the truth, Sumter should enter- 
tain the deepest resentment against Greene, who, he 
learned, had to others belittled and misrepresented all he 
had done, had intrigued for his removal, and finally driven 
him from the field? 

The Jacksonborough Assembly, however unwise in its 
enactments and unjust to the Loyalists, was most gen- 
erous to General Greene. With Sumter and Marion 
sitting in the Senate, and all the other partisan lead- 
ers in one or other House of the body, while nothing 
was said or done for Moultrie, Sumter, Marion, or Pickens, 



IN THE REVOLUTION 729 

honors were heaped upon Greene with material and 
pecuniary rewards. These he accepted as due him of 
right. He took the plantation — "Boone's Barony," as 
it was called — and the negroes and the money, and turned 
upon the State which bestowed them. The British fleet 
had scarcely crossed the bar of Charlestown harbor, reliev- 
ing him of further hostilities, when he turned his guns 
upon the people of South Carolina, as if he was their 
conqueror and they his subjects. In a State with a civil 
government fully established, and the people ready to do 
what they could to support his army, — the Avhole burden 
of which was left upon them without assistance from other 
States, — an army few of whom had borne any part in the 
rescue of the State from the British, most of whom had 
come into South Carolina only when the fighting was 
over, and there to mutiny ! he claimed the right to im- 
press as if in a hostile territory. He needlessly offended 
the people by setting up with a parade of knowledge of 
international law the far-fetched doctrine of postliminy^ 
that his officers might indulge their fancy as horsemen 
by retaining the high-bred animals recaptured from the 
enemy, — an exercise of mere arbitrary power certain to 
give great offence, and for which nothing was to be 
attained in comparison with the injury it would inflict 
upon the sentiment of his people. From the needless 
impressment of such horses in Virginia, Greene and the 
Continental army were at this time in the greatest un- 
popularity in that State. Then, in the controversy with 
Governor Guerard over the flag from Governor Tonyn 
of Florida, whatever may have been the merits of the 
question involved. General Greene's conduct was not only 
undignified and petulant, but unwise and most unfortunate 
in the impression which it left upon the minds of the 
people of the State. 



730 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

General Greene's whole conduct in South Carolina was, 
indeed, most unfortunate in its influence upon the future 
relations of the State to the general government. To the 
minds of many his purpose seemed to have been scarcely 
less to put down State pride and State assertion, than to 
overthrow British rule. It was not then known, it is true, 
how in his ]3rivate correspondence, with persons of influence 
near Congress, he was belittling and sneering at the conduct 
of her heroes, while to them he was writing most flatter- 
ing letters ; but his flattery could scarcely conceal his real 
unfriendliness to them and to their followers, whom he 
described as serving more for plunder than from the love of 
liberty. It did not escape observation that, when he made 
triumphal entry into the city upon its evacuation by the 
British, no State officer had been called upon to be present, 
though Marion and all his officers were within reach ; nor 
was Wade Hampton — who the year before had cut his way 
to the very gates of the town ^ — beyond call. The only 
officer of South Carolina whom he allowed to accompany 
him was Moultrie, who was in the Continental line, and 
who, however brilliant had been his career in the earlier 
days of the war, had been a prisoner during the occupation 
of the city by the British, and thus had had nothing to do 
with the recoveiy of the State. The grand entry of the 
recovered town was made by General Wayne and his 
mutinous troops from Penns3dvania, who had fought no 
battle in South Carolina. Then, assuming a grand air of 
importance, superiority, and patronage, and in a manner 
somewhat at least as that of a dictator, he assumes to 
address the General Assembly upon matters under their 
consideration with which he had no concern. In the 
issue with Governor Guerard, he defies the chief magistrate 
of the State and contemptuously overrides her statutes. 

It is true that there were those of the State who sus- 



IN THE REVOLUTION 731 

tained and upheld General Greene in these, as in all other 
matters, for there were already the germs of the Federal 
party forming in the Continental line, soon to develop into 
the Cincinnati Society, and thence into that political organi- 
zation, and in the debates of Congress ten and twelve years 
later (1792-94), upon the question of the relief of Greene's 
estate from embarrassment, growing out of the Banks 
contracts, we shall find the delegates for South Carolina 
in the House of Representatives dividing upon that line, 
the Federalists, Robert Barnwell, Robert Goodloe Harper, 
and William Loughton Smith supporting the bills for 
relief, while the Republicans, Sumter, Hampton, and Winn 
oppose them. These votes, too, it will be observed, divide 
also locally. The LoAV-County representatives uphold 
Greene's course, while those of the Up-Country condemn 
it. It will be further observed that it is Sumter and his 
old leaders in the field, Hampton and Winn, that in Con- 
gress resist the claims of Greene's estates as growing out 
of his own wrong; and so it was that the Republican or 
Democratic party in South Carolina gathered around 
Sumter and: his leaders, as did the Federalists around 
the Continental officers. It is most interesting again to 
observe, if we shall look, that in the votes in the State 
Convention which subsequently adopted the Constitution 
of the United States, the same lines are generally followed. 
The Federalists, the members of the old Continental 
Congress, the original movers in the Revolution, the 
St. Augustine exiles, under the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, 
and Gadsden, who advocated its adoption, coming almost 
ejitirel}' from the Low-Country ; while the heroes from the 
Up-Country, Sumter and his old followers. Hill and Lacey, 
the three Hamptons (Wade, Richard, and John), Taylor, 
Brandon, Thomas, and Butler, were the Republicans who 
opposed the adoption of that instrument and carried with 



732 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

them fifty-two out of the seventy-three votes in the con- 
vention against its adoption. The vote was almost solidly 
the upper country under Sumter against the lower under 
the Continentals. General Greene's conduct, especially 
his course in regard to Sumter, had much, very much, to 
do with the formation of parties in the State. 

It has been said that however true it is that individuals 
in South Carolina took an early and a noble stand against 
the oppressive measures of the British ministry, that 
though it is equally true that South Carolina was the 
first of the thirteen States to form an independent con- 
stitution, and that she overpaid her proportion of expendi- 
tures of the war in the sum of $1,205,978, that though it 
is also true that she sent some gallant Whigs to the field, 
and several wise ones to the council, that statistics show, 
nevertheless, that she failed far in furnishing men for the 
cause ; and that it will not do in answer to this charge to 
point to the many battle-fields in the State ; that the exact 
question is not where were the battle-grounds of the Revo- 
lution, but what was the portion of men each of the thir- 
teen States supplied for the contest ?i We have taken 
occasion in a preceding volume to show how fallacious 
and impossible are the figures given in Knox's Report to 
Congress in 1790, upon the authority of which this criti- 
cism is based, especially as the same are amplified by the 
author who makes it. We have pointed out that, even in 
the case of South Carolina itself, the population could not 
have furnished the number of men she is credited with, 
still less a greater number ; and we then asked the perti- 
nent question which we venture again to repeat, viz. : If 
so be that there were so many Americans in the field, 
where did they fight, and why did they not drive the 
British from the continent without waiting for the as> 
1 Tlie American Loyalists, by Lorenzo Sabine, 30, 31. 



I 



IN THE REVOLUTION 733 

sistance of the French ?i But the question recurs: Is it 
true that South Carolina failed to furnish her portion of 
men to the cause of freedom and independence ? Is it or 
is it not a fact that, while her territory was the battle- 
field of the struggle during its last three years, her 
sons took hut little part in the war that was waged upon 
her soil ? This charge, so grave, is not to be answered by 
indignant denial, however natural and true such denial 
might be. It must be answered, if it is to be effectively, 
by the record. But here her historians find themselves 
in difficulty. For, as we have had occasion so often be- 
fore to observe, the peculiarity of the condition of affairs 
in the State during this time precluded contemporaneous 
record of those who followed her partisan leaders. As 
there was no government in the State outside of the mili- 
tary rule of the British within the lines held for a time 
securely by them, there was no such thing as a militia 
in the American service until the reorganization of the 
government by Governor Rutledge in the fall of 1781. 
Hence there were no rolls. The men who did the 
fighting in South Carolina under Sumter, Marion, and 
Pickens were purely volunteers, partisan soldiers who 
came and went, and fought as the occasion demanded, 
without the prospect or hope of pay or reward. It is 
true that in years afterwards rolls were made upon which 
a grateful State issued pensions and rewards, and these 
rolls may yet be found among miscellaneous records which 
were saved when the capital of the State was burned in 
1865, but which have not yet been arranged, and remain 
in a confused mass in a room in the State-House. But as 
from the very nature of the case there were no field re- 
turns made at the time of the severest fighting, there being 
no government to receive them. South Carolina never can 
^History of So. Ca. in the Bevolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 289-300. 



734 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

show by record the exact number of her sons who took 
part in the struggle, nor even approximately so. But 
this her historians can safely say, that, from the very 
nature of the warfare that existed in her borders, there 
were few men living who did not serve at one time or 
another upon one side or the other in the great contest. 
It was a time in which there was no such thing as neu- 
trality, nor place in which there was a spot for safety. 

But Avhile her historians cannot find militia rolls to swell 
the numbers of those who rendered services important or 
trifling as the case may be, they can point to the list of 
battles, actions, and engagements which took place in South 
Carolina, which, if analyzed, will answer most emphatically 
the question wliich has been asked. 

From a carefully prepared Table, which appears as an 
appendix to this volume, it will be seen that there are re- 
corded one hundred and thirty-seven battles, actions, and en- 
gagements which took place in the State. Doubtless some 
of these were very small affairs, scarcely more than skir- 
mishes, but the list contains no smaller affairs than are to be 
found in the list of battles which took place in other States ;i 
it enumerates as but one the siege of Charlestown, which 
lasted fifty-three days, and included several bloody actions, 
and as but one each also the sieges of Forts Watson, Granby, 
and Ninety Six, each of which occupied several days in 
its operations. If we analyze this table we shall see that 
in the first two years of the war, 1775-76, there were nine 

1 See Chronological List of Battles, Actions, etc., appendod to Heitman's 
Historical Register of the Continental Army, 1775-1783. This list analyzed 
gives the number of battles in the respective States as follows : New York 
90, South Carolina 54, New Jersey 34, Georgia 24, North Carolina 21, 
Massachusetts 15, Canada 15, Connecticut 14, Virginia 14, Rhode Island 5, 
Pennsylvania 3, Delaware 3, Indiana 3, Vermont 2, Maine 1, Florida 1, 
Kentucky 1, Chesapeake 1, Lake Ontario 1, Nova Scotia 1, elsewhere 3 — 
in all 312. 



IN THE REVOLUTION 735 

battles in South Carolina, — one, the great victory of Fort 
IMoultrie, in which none but Carolinians, North and South, 
took part, nor any blood but that of South Carolina was 
shed. In the other eight none but South Carolinians 
fought for the American cause. For three years there 
were no military operations in South Carolina, but her 
Continentals were wasted in a fruitless expedition to 
Florida in 1778. In 1779, when the war turned south- 
ward, there were nine affairs in South Carolina, and in 
these none but her own Continentals and militia took 
part. In a preceding volume, we have shown that in 
1780 there had been thirty-four engagements in the State, 
in eight of which Continental troops had taken part, and 
in the remaining twenty-six only partisan bands. ^ To the 
twenty-six should be added two in the early affairs of 
Beckham's Old Field and Mobley Meeting-house (omitted 
in that list because of the want of any account of casualties 
in either of them on either side). In four of these partisan 
affairs, i.e. Gowen's Old Fort, Flat Rock, Hanging Rock, and 
Wahub's Plantation, North Carolinians only were engaged ; 
and in the battle of Camden there were no South Carolina 
troops present ; in nine other partisan conflicts there were 
men from the three States of North and South Carolina and 
Georgia ; in twenty-two there were none but South Caro- 
linians. From the advent of Greene to the end of the war, 
i.e. during the years 1781-82, it will be seen by the table 
appended that there were eighty-three battles, etc., fought, 
and that in these the Continentals from other Southern 
States, under Greene alone, took part in nine ; that South 
Carolinians took part with these Continentals in ten, and 
that they fought sixty-four without assistance from any one 
coming from beyond the borders of the State. To recapitulate, 
then, of the one hundred and thirty-seven battles, actions, 

1 History of So. Ca. in the Eevolution, 1775-80 (McCrady), 850-853. 



736 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

and engagements, between the British and Tories and 
Indians on the one hand, and the American Whigs on the 
other, which took place in South Carolina during the 
Revolution, one hundred and three were fought by South 
Carolinians alone, in twenty others South Carolinians 
took part with troops from other States, making in all one 
hundred and twenty-three battles in which South Carolin- 
ians fought, within the borders of their State, for the liber- 
ties of America; leaving but fourteen in which troops 
from other States fought within the same without her 
assistance. Besides the battles fought in their own State, 
South Carolinians fought twice at Savannah and twice at 
Augusta. They were with Howe when he was defeated 
by Colonel Campbell at Savannah in December, 1778, and 
bore a conspicuous part in the siege of that place by Lin- 
coln and D'Estaing in 1779. They took part with Clarke 
and McCall at the first siege of Augusta in 1780, and 
under Pickens and Lee in the second in 1781. They 
fought and pursued the Indians over the borders of North 
Carolina and Georgia. A few of them under Pickens and 
Lee were with Greene in his North Carolina campaign. 
Is not this a sufficient answer to the question as to the 
proportion of men which she furnished to the general 
cause ? Can any State show better ? 

The condition of affairs in South Carolina was without 
parallel in the history of the Revolution. No other State 
was so completely overrun by British forces. There was 
no part of her territory, from the mountains to the sea- 
board, which was not trod by hostile forces, no ford nor 
ferry that was not crossed by armed men in pursuit or 
retreat, no swamp that was not cover to lurking foes. No 
other State was so divided upon the questions at issue, and 
in none other did tlie men of both sides so generally par- 
ticipate in the struggle. In none other were Tory organi- 



IN THE KEVOLUTION 737 

zations from other States so much used in connection with 
Royal troops to subdue, American Whigs, thus attempting 
to carry out the British ministerial plan of overcoming 
Americans by Americans. While South Carolina received 
but little assistance from any State but North Carolina, 
and none from the North, her territory was garrisoned 
by Americans serving in the British army enlisted from 
Connecticut, from New York, from New Jersey, and 
from Pennsylvania. The British forces at King's Moun- 
tain and at Ninety Six were composed entirely of provin- 
cials raised in Northern States. Northern States furnished 
also several excellent Tory ofiScers who operated with the 
British army in South Carolina. Among these were Lieu- 
tenant-Colonels TurnbuU and Cruger and Major Sheridan 
of New York, Lieutenant-Colonel Allen of New Jersey, 
and two brilliant cavalry leaders from Massachusetts, 
Major John Coffin and Colonel Benjamin Thompson, after- 
wards Count Rumford. Pennsylvania, on the other hand, 
furnished the notorious Huck whose career was, however, 
soon ended. Connecticut sent the infamous Dunlap, and 
Maryland the robber Maxwell. In no other State was the 
civil government set up by the Revolutionists so completely 
overthrown, and the country so given over to anarchy. 
The citizens of no other State suffered exile for the 
American cause as did those from South Carolina at St. 
Augustine. In other States the militia was occasion- 
ally engaged in operations with the Continental forces, 
and sometimes, though rarely alone, in enterprises against 
the enemy. The complete overthrow of all civil govern- 
ment in South Carolina, rendering the employment of 
militia on either side within her borders impracticable, 
in their place partisan bands were organized by the Whigs, 
upon the nucleus of the old militia organizations, and, 
practically self-maintained for the last three years of the 

VOL. IV. — 3 b 



738 HISTORY OF SOUTH CAROLINA 

war, again and again upheld the struggle while there was 
not a Continental soldier in the State. The names of 
Sumter, Marion, and Pickens stand out in the history and 
romance of the United States, occupying a peculiar and 
unique position. And yet, neither they nor their fol- 
lowers could, for the brilliant services they rendered, 
be admitted to the Cincinnati Societ3^ In no other State 
was there so much fighting and bloodshed. No State 
contributed so liberally of her means to the common 
cause of her sister States, a cause which was not origi- 
nally hers ; no State, we venture to assert, furnished so 
many men in proportion to her population in the actual 
warfare which ensued, nor so few upon the pension rolls 
of the country after it was over. More than a hundred 
battle-fields dot the map of South Carolina and blazon the 
glorious struggle of her people. 

We may be permitted, in conclusion, to quote again, as 
we have before done in a former volume, the tribute of 
the great American historian to the conduct of the people 
of South Carolina when practically abandoned by Congress 
and its army. 

''''Left mainly to her oivn resources''' B^y?, Bancroft, '■'•it 
was through the depths of wretchedness, that her sons were 
to bring her hack to her place in the republic, after suffering 
more and daring more and achieving more than the men of 
any other Stated 



APPENDIX A 



LIST OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA LEGIS- 
LATURE ELECTED IN 1781 UNDER GOVERNOR RUT- 
LEDGE'S PROCLAMATION,! WHICH MET IN JACKSON- 
BOROUGH IN JANUARY, 1782. COMMONLY KNOWN AS 
THE JACKSONBOROUGH ASSEMBLY. 



Parishes of St. Philip and St. 
Michael, Charlestown 

Senators 
Arthur Middleton and Col. Isaac 

Motte. 

Bepresentatives 

Thomas Bee, Adtenus Burke, 
Kichard Beresford, John Blake, 
Edward Darrell, Nicholas Eveleigh, 
John Edwards, Thomas Grhnball, 
Wm. Hasell Gibbes, John F. Griaikg, 
Thomas Hey ward, Jr., Thomas Jones, 
Henry Laurens, John Laurens, Will- 
lam Lee, Alexander Moultrie, Rich- 
ard Lushington, John Neufville, Jr., 
John Owen, Thomas Pinckney, Col. 
James Postell, John Ernest Poyas, 
Edward Rutledge, Davis Ramsay, 
Hugh Rutledge, Jacob Read, Thomas 
Savage, Daniel Stevens, Anthony 
Toomer, Charles Warham. 

St. Andrew's Parish 
Senator 
Col. William Scott. 



Iie2)resentatives 
Peter Bocquet, Benjamin Cattell, 
Thomas O. Elliott, Richard Hutson, 
Solomon Milner, John Rutledge. 

Parish of St. George, Dorchester 

Senator 

Dr. David Oliphant. 

Representatives 

Edward Blake, Gen. Isaac Huger, 
John Mathews, Captain William 
Moultrie, Jr., Charles C. Pinckney, 
Daniel Stuart, Dr. Thomas Tudor 
Tucker, Thomas Waring. 

Parish of St. James, Goose Creek 
Senator 
William Logan. 

Bepresentatives 
John Baddeley, Alexander Brough- 
ton, Thomas Elliott (of Wappoo), 
George Flagg, Ralph Izard, William 
Johnson. 



1 This list is taken from the diary of Josiah Smith, Jr., and so far as we 
know such a list is not to be obtained elsewhere, as the journals of this legis- 
lature cannot now be found. 

739 



740 



APPENDIX A 



Parish of St. John's, Berkeley 
Senator 
Gen. Francis Marion. 

Eepresentatives 

Alexander Brougliton, John Cor- 
des, Gabriel Gignilliat, Richard 
Gough, Thomas Giles, John Frier- 
son. 

Parish op St. James, Santee 

Senator 
Richard Withers. 

Eepresentatives 

Henry Hughes, Mark Huggins, 
Joseph Legare, Lewis Miles, Alex- 
ander McGregor, Anthony Simons. 

Christ Chdrch Parish 

Senator 

Arnoldus Vander Horst. 

Eepresentatives 

John Berwick, Clement Brown, 
John Sandford Dart, William Scott, 
Jr. , John Vander Horst, James Van- 
der Horst. 

Parish of St. Thomas and St. Denis 

Senator 

Isaac Harleston. 

Eepresentatives 

Joseph Fogartie, Hopson Pinck- 
ney, Thomas Shubrick, Benjamin 
Simons, Robert Quash, Edward 
Weyman. 

St. Stephen's Parish 
Senator 
Joseph Palmer, 



Eepresentatives 

Col. Hezekiah Maham, Thomas 
Cooper, John Palmer, Peter Siukler, 
James Sinkler, Benjamin Walker. 

St. Paul's Parish 

Senator 
Joseph Bee. 

Eepresentatives 

Thomas Bee, Thomas Ferguson, 
George Livingston, Christopher Pe- 
ters, Joseph Slann, Morton Wilkin- 
son. 

St. Bartholomew's Parish 

Senator 
John Lloyd. 

Eepresentatives 

Joseph Glover, Sr., Edmund 
Hyrne, James Postell, Jr., Richard 
Singleton, William Skirviug, John 
Ward. 

Prince William's Parish 

Senator 

Col. William Harden. 

Eepresentatives 

Major William Davis, Dr. Aaron 
Gillet, Thomas Hutson, John Mc- 
pherson, Capt. Andrew Postell, 
James Smith. 

Parish of St. Helena 

Senator 
Benjamin Guerard. 

Eepresentatives 

Pierce Butler, Glen Drayton, 
Jacob Guerard, Thomas Hey ward, 
John Keau, Charles C. Pinckney. 



APPENDIX A 



741 



St. Peter's Parish 
Senator 
Cornelius Dupont. 

Bepresentatives 
Thomas Cater, Charles Dupont, 
James Moore, John Moore, William 
Stafford, Col. James Thompson. 

Parishes of Prince George and 
All Saints 
Senator 
Col. Hugh Horry. 

PRINCE GEORGE 

Bepresentatives 
Gen. Christopher Gadsden, Col. 
Peter Horry, Major William Beni- 
son, Capt. Thomas Mitchell. 

ALL SAINTS 

Bepresentatives 
William Alston, Nathaniel Dwight. 

Prince Frederick's Parish 

Senator 
Samuel Smith. 

Bepresentatives 

Major John Baxter, Major John 
James, Capt. William McCottry, 
Capt. John McCauley, Col. James 
Postell, Thomas Potter. 

St. David's Parish 

Senator 

William Thomas. 

Representatives 

Col. Lemuel Benton, Capt. Dewitt, 
Capt. Pledger, William Pegues, 
Capt. Pegues, Major Thomas. 



Parishes of St. Matthew and 
Orange 

Senator 

Col. William Thomson. 

Bepresentatives 

Henry Felder, William Mydelton, 
William Reid, Richard A. Rapley, 
John A. Truetlin. 

Saxe Gotha Election District 
Se7iator 
William Arthur. 

Bepresentatives 

Col. Jonas Beard, Joseph Culpep- 
per, Uriah Goodwyn, Wade Hamp- 
ton, Richard Hampton, Dr. Jacob 
Richmond. 

District between Broad and 
Catawba Rivers 

Senator 

Col. Thomas Taylor. 

Bepresentatives 

Major Adair, Col. Hunter, Joseph 
Kirkland, William Kirkland, Major 
Lyle, Col. Edward Lacey, Major 
Miles, Major Pearson, William 
Reeves, Col. Richard Winn. 

Upper or Spartan District be- 
tween Broad and Saluda Rivers 

Senator 

Simon Berwick. 

Bepresentatives 

Col. William Henderson, Col. 
Thomas Brandon, Samuel McJun- 
kiu, Col. John Thomas, Jr. 



742 



APPENDIX A 



Little River District between 
Broad and Saluda Rivers 
Senator 
Col. Levi Casey. 

Eepresentatives 
Benjamin Kilgore, Montgom- 
ery, Dr. Ross, Capt. Wild. 

Lower District between Broad 
AND Saluda Rivers 

Senator 
Major Gordon. 

Eepresentatives 
David Glynn, Michael Leitner, 
George Roof, Philemon Waters. 

Ninety Six Election District 

Senator 
John Lewis Gervais. 

Eepresentatives 
Robert Anderson, Patrick Cal- 
houn, John Ewing Colhoun, Le Roy 
Hammond, James Moore, Hugh 
Middleton, John Murray, Gen. An- 
drew Pickens, Arthur Simkins. 

Camden Election District 
Senator 
General Thomas Sumter. 



Eepresentatives 
James Bradley, Samuel Duulap, 
Wood Furm an, Capt. Gordon, John 
Gamble, Col. John James, Joseph 
Kershaw, Joseph Lee, Richard 
Richardson, William Welch. 

New Acquisition 
Senator 
Col. Watson. 

Eepresentatives 
John Fergus, William Hill, Joseph 
Howe, William Howe, David Linch, 
John McCaw, Joseph McKinney, 
John Moffat, John Patton, Frame 
Wood. 

District between the Edisto and 
Savannah Rivers 
Senator 
Stephen Smith. 

Eepresentatives 
John Collins, William Dunbar, 
Robert Lusk, John Parkinson, Wil- 
liam Robison, George Robison. 

There was no election in the par- 
ish of St. John's, Colleton, as the 
islands composing that parish were 
in the hands of the enemy. 



APPENDIX B 

TABLE OF BATTLES, ACTIONS, AND ENGAGEMENTS WHK 





AMERICAN 




Battle or Action, 
etc. 


Place 
(What is now) 


Date 


CD 

■a 
a 

OS 

a 


a 




3 

c 


1| 


tp 


i 5 










s 


1. 


■^ 


-pS 


^j 












o 
O 


o 


Q 


^ 


5 


i 


£ < 


1 


Naval battle 


Charleston Har- 
bor 


11 & 12 Nov. 
1775 


Simon Tufts 


70 












2 


Ninety Six 


Abbeville Co. 


19 & 21 Nov. 

1775 
22 Dec. 1775 


Williamson 


562 


1 


12 


13 






3 


Great Cane Brake 


Anderson Co. 


Thomson 


1300 




1 


1 






4 


Cherokee Indian 
Town 


Anderson Co. 


26 June 1770 


McCaU 


33 


4 








1 


5 


Fort Moultrie 


Chariest' n Harb'r 


■28 June 1770 


.Moultrie 


6522 


33 


63 


96 






6 


Lyndley's Fort, Eay- 
burn's Creek 


Laurens Co. 


15 July 1770 


Downes 


150 












7 


Essenecca 


Anderson Co. 


I Ang. 1776 


Williamson 


300 


3 


14 


17 






8 


Oconore 


Oconee Co. 


8 Aug. 1776 


Williamson 


040 












9 


Tomassy 


Oconee Co. 


11 Aug. 1770 


Williamson 


040 


6 


17 


23 






10 


Beaufort 


Beaufort Co. 


12 Feb. 1779 


Moultrie 


300 


8 


22 


30 






11 


Cherokee Ford, Sa- 
vannah River 


-Abbeville Co. 


14 Feb. 1779 


Anderson 






16 






10 


12 
13 


Coosawliatchie 
Charlestown (Pre- 
vost) 


Beaufort Co. 
Charleston Co. 


3Mavl779 
11 to 13 M.ay 

1779 


Laurens 
Moultrie 


350 
2500 












14 


Stono 


Charleston Co. 


20 June 1779 


Lincoln 


1000 


50 


115 


165 






15 


Galley fi^ut, Stono 


Charleston Co. 


June 1779 


Pyne 















16 


iviver 
Mathews's Plaata- 
tion (Stono) 


Charleston Co. 


June 1779 


Mathews 














17 


Capture of seven 
Uritisli vessels 


Charleston Co. 


Tune 1779 


Hall & Tryon 














18 


Schooner Raftle- 
stiake (Stono) 


Charleston Co. 


June 1779 


Frisby 














19 


Salkehatchie 


Colleton Co. 


IS Mar. 17S0 


Lad son 


.50 


17 


4 


21 




29 


20 


Pon Pon 


Colleton Co. 


20 Mar. 1780 


Washington 




10 








A 


■21 


Rantowle's 


Charleston Co. 


27 Mar. 1780 


Washington 














2-2 


Monck's Corner 


Berkeley Co. 


12 Apr. 1730 


linger 


100 


15 


18 


33 






23 


Siege of Charlestown 


Charleston Co. 


.Mar., Apr., 
Mav 1780 


Lincoln 




S9 


109 


258 




5083 51 


24 


Lenud's Ferry 


Berkeley Co. 


18 Mav 1780 


White 


300 


10 


25 


35 






25 


Beckham's Old Field 


Chester'Co. 


May l7S0 


McLure 


SO 












26 


Mobley's Meetings- 
house 


Fairfield Co. 


May 1780 


Bratton 














2T 


Buford's Massacre 


Lancaster Co. 


29 May 1780 


Buford 


350 


113 


150 


2(j3 




53 : 


2S 


Williaiuaon's Planta- 
tion 


York Co. 


12 July 1780 


Bratton 


200 






1 






29 


Brandon's Camp 


Union Co. 


July 1780 


Brandon 


70 












30 


Stallions 


York Co. 


July 17S0 


Brandon 


50 


1 











(44 



APPENDIX B 

bOK PLACE IN SOUTH CAROLINA DURING THE REVOLUTION 



BRITISH, TORT, OR INDIAN 



Commander 


1 

o 


•a 


a 

3 

o 






u 

a 
o 


2 




lornborough 
















130 shots fired ; no casualties 


obinson 


1890 






20 






20 


Ninety Six besieged by Tories ; siege raised 


ininghaui, P. 
dian cliiel\ 




5 








130 


135 


Tories defeated 


inton 
dian chief 


2S00 
190 


2 




200 




13 


200 
15 


First complete American victory 


dian chief 
dian chief 
dian chief 
ardiner 
3yd 


2(10 


1 

16 


3 


4 
13 




7 


4 

16 
20 
100 


Several Indians killed 

See Drayton's Atemoirs, vol. II, 345-351 

See McCaU's Hisi. of Georgia, 196, 197 


6vost 


2400 






45 






45 


No account of British loss 
Prevost lays siege to Charleston 


aitland 
aitland 


500 


26 


103 


129 






129 


One of the hardest-fought battles of the war 
No account of British loss 


mwck 


60 














An affair in which most of Beaufort com- 
pany wei-e killed or wounded 
No account of casualties 

British loss, captain and greater part of men 


itterson 

irleton 

irleton 

irleton 

inton 


150 
13000 


78 


2 
189 


2 
267 




7 
20 


2 

7 

2 

287 


Washington and Tarleton first appear 

Americans surprised and routed 
Charleston besieged and taken 


irleton 

3ry 

3ry 

irleton 
uck 


150 

200 

TOO 
115 


5 
35 


14 
50 


2 

19 
85 






2 

19 

85 


Americans dispersed 

( No account of casualties. First uprising 

< of the people 

I Tories routed on both occasions 

Buford's Virginia regiment destroyed 

Huck defeated and slain 


ory 
3ry 




2 


4 


6 




2S 


34 


Brandon's party routed 
Tories defeated 



745 



746 



APPENDIX B 



AMERICAN 





Battle or Action, 
etc. 


Place 
(What is now) 


Date 


4) 

a 

a 


® 


ra 


■a 
c 


c: s 


to 


C J. 










a 


t~. 


7-; 


c 


= ^ 


OT 


.2 ^ 










c 


o 


s 


^ 


3 


i 


(X t 


81 


Cedar Springs 


Spartanburg Co. 


13 July 1780 


Thomas 


60 












82 


Gowen's Old Fort 


Spartanburg Co. 


13 & 14 July 
1780 


Jones 














33 


McDowell's Camp 


Spartanburg Co. 


16 July 1780 


Hampton, Ed. 


52 


s 


30 


38 






34 


Flat Rock 


Kershaw Co. 


20 July 1780 


Davie 


80 


1 


3 


4 






85 


Thicketty Fort 


Spartanburg Co. 


oO July 1780 


McDowell 


GOO 






6 






86 


Hunt's Bluff 


Darlington Co. 


1 Aug. 1780 


Gillespie 














87 


Rocky Mount 


Lancaster Co. 


1 Aug. 1780 


Sumter 


880 












38 


Hanging Rock 


Lancaster Co. 


1 Aug. 1780 


Davie 


SO 












39 


Hanging Rock 


Lancaster Co. 


6 Aug. 1780 


Sumter & 
Davie 

Clarke & 


300 






100 






40 


Old Iron "Works or 


Spartanburg Co. 


8 Aug. 1780 


600 


4 


20 


24 








2d Cedar Springs 






Shelby 














41 


Port's Ferry 


William.sburg Co. 


15 Aug. 1780 


Marion 


250 




2 


2 






42 


Wateree 


Kichland Co. 


15 Aug. 178U 


Sumter 


700 












43 


Camden 


Kershaw Co. 


16 Aug. 1780 


Gates 


3500 






SOO 




1270 2( 


44 


Fisliing Creek 


Chester Co. 


18 Aug. 1780 


Sumter 


700 






150 




310 i 


45 


Musgrove's Mills 


Laurens Co. 


19 Aug. 1760 


Clarke & 
Shelby 


200 


4 


9 


13 






46 


N'elson's Ferry 


Clarendon Co. 


20 Aug. 1780 


Marion 


16 


1 


1 


2 






47 


King's Tree 


Williamsburg Co. 


27 Aug. 1780 


Marion 


150 












4S 


P.lack Mingo 


Williamsburg Co. 


14 Sept. 1780 


Marion 


150 






50 






49 


Tarcote 


Williamsburg Co. 


Sept. 1780 


Marion 


400 












50 


King's Mountain 


York Co. 


7 Oct. 1780 


Campbell 


910 


28 


62 


90 






61 


Fishdam 


Chester Co. 


9 Nov. 1780 


Sumter 


550 


1 


1 


2 






52 


Rlackstock 


Union Co. 


20 Nov. 1780 


Sumter 


420 


1 


3 


4 






53 


Rugeley's Mills 


Kershaw Co. 


4 Dec. 1780 


Washington 














54 


Long Cane 


.\bbeville Co. 


11 Dec. 1780 


Clarke 


500 


14 


7 


21 






55 


Hammond's Store 


.\bbe\-ille Co. 


30 Dec. 1780 


Washington 


275 












56 


Williams's Planta- 
tion 
Cowpens 


Newberry Co. 


31 Dec. 1780 


Washington 














57 


Spartanburg Co. 


16 Jan. 1781 


Morgan 


940 


11 


61 


72 






58 


De Pey ster's capture 


Georgetown Co. 


19 Jan. 1781 


Postell, John 


28 












59 


Sampit Road, 
White's Bridge 


Georgetown Co. 


Jan. 1781 


Horry, Peter 














60 


Georgetown 


Georgetown Co. 


24 Jan. 1781 


Marion & Lee 




1 


2 


3 






61 


Wadboo 


Berkeley Co. 


■24 Jan. 1781 


Postell, Jas. 














62 


Monck's Corner 


Berkeley Co. 


24 Jan. 1781 


Postell, John 














63 


Singleton's Mill, 
Halfway Swamp 


Clarendon Co. 


Feb. 1781 


Marion 














64 


Fort Granby 


Lexington Co. 


19 Feb. 1781 


Sumter 














65 


Thomson'sPlanta- 

tion 
Wright's Bluflf 


Orangeburg Co. 


23 Feb. 1781 


Sumter 


100 












66 


Clarendon Co. 


27 Feb. 1781 


Sumter 




18 




18 






67 


Mud Lick 


Newberry Co. 


2 Mar. 1781 


Roebuck 


150 












68 


Lynch's Creek 


Kershaw Co. 


fi Mar. 1781 


Sumter 




18 










69 


Wiboo Swamp 


Clarendon Co. 


G Mar. 1781 


Marion 


250 












70 


Mount Hope 


Wilhamsburg Co. 


Mar. 1781 


Marion 














71 


Black River 


Williamsburg Co. 


Mar. 1781 


Marion 














72 


Sampit Bridge 


Georgetown Co. 


Mar. 1781 


Marion 














73 


Snow Island / 


Marion Co. 


Mar. 1781 


Marion 




7 


15 


22 






74 


Witherspoon's 
Ferry 


Georgetown Co. 


Mar. 1781 


Marion 














75 


Dutchman's Creek 


Fairfield Co. 


Mar. 1781 






18 








18 


7fi 


Beattie's Mill 


Abbeville Co. 


24 Mar. 1781 


Pickens 














77 


Four Holes 


Colleton Co. 


7 Apr. 1781 


Harden 


100 













APPENDIX B 



747 



BRITISH, TORY, OR INDIAN 



u 

ca 

OS 








« S 


M 


« 


41 

is 




E 


<o 


■a 


o 


•c 1 


a 


a 






B 
o 


o 


_5u 


3 

o 


1^ 


1 


'E 


tc^ 




o 


^ 


W 


M 


s 


Ph 


< 




rguson 


150 














Several British killed ; rest routed 






1 


3 


4 




32 


36 




nes 


300 


8 










8 




,rden 


150 












40 




oore 


94 










94 


94 




ills 


100 










100 


100 




jrnbuU 


300 






12 






12 




rdeii 


500 






50 






50 




rdeii 


500 












200 




ferguson 


2000 




30 


30 






30 




liney 
















Whole body of Tories routed ; several killed 


u-ey" 








7 




100 


107 




)rnwalll8 


2239 


68 


245 


325 




11 


336 




irleton 


350 






16 






16 




nes 


500 


63 


90 


153 




70 


223 




captain 












176 


176 




emysa 


300 






15 




15 


30 




ill 








60 






60 




fnes 








26 






26 




rguson 


925 


119 


123 


242 




664 


906 




emyss 


250 






20 






20 




irleton 


500 


92 


100 


192 






192 




igeley 












104 


104 


' 


len 


450 






3 






3 




)ry officer 


250 






150 




40 


190 




iniugham, R. 


' 














Several British and Tories killed and 
wounded 


irleton 


1000 


60 


124 


184 




600 


784 




3 Peyster 


29 










29 


29 




liuey 
















Many British and Tories killed and 
wounded 


mpbell 
















Many British and Tories killed ; 5 taken 
No account of losses on either side 
No account of losses on either side 


cLeroth 
















No account of losses on either side 


axwell 


80 






13 




66 


79 


Sumter invests, but relieved by Rawdon 

Sumter repulsed 

Total rout British and Tories 


aser 














20 




atson 


550 














British dispersed 


atson 
















British abandon the field 


atson 
















Many British killed 


atson 
















Skirmish 


oyle 






2 








2 




oyle 
















Sharp fight; no account of casualties 


■ey 
unlap 




34 








42 


76 




irton 












26 


26 





748 



APPENDIX B 



AMEllICAN 





Battle or Action, 
etc. 


Place 
(What is now) 


Date 


<D 

■a 
a 

03 

S 

c 




rS 


■2 

•T3 

a 

3 

o 


1^ 




3 


6a 
1 










5 
Q 


p 


S 




u 


S 


^ 


a 


78 


Barton's Post 


Colleton Co. 


S Apr. 1781 


Cooper 




1 


2 


3 








79 


Pocotaligo Road 


Colleton Co. 


8 Apr. 1781 


Cooper 






2 






1 




80 


VV^axhaws Church 


Lancaster Co. 


9 Apr. 1781 


Sumter 
















81 


Fort Balfour, Poco- 
taligo 


Beaufort Co. 


13 Apr. 1781 


Harden 
















82 


Fort Watson 


Clarendon Co. 


15-23 Apr. 
1781 


Marion & Lee 


380 


2 


6 


8 








83 


Mathews's Bluff 


Edgefield Co. 


Apr. 1781 


McKoy 
















84 


Wiggins's Hill 


Barnwell Co. 


Apr. 1781 


Harden 




7 


11 


18 




1 




85 


Horner's Corner 


Edgefield Co. 


Apr. 1781 


Hammond 
















80 


Hararaond's Mill 


Edgefield Co. 


Apr. 1781 


Hammond 
















87 


Hobkirk's Hill 


Kershaw Co. 


25 Apr. 1781 


Greene 


939 


19 


113 


132 


136 




2 


88 


Friday's Ferry 


Richland Co. 


1 iMav 1781 


Hampton, W. 
















80 


Bush Kiver 


Newberry Co. 


Mayl7Sl 


Thomas 
















90 


CJamden, Evacua- 
tion of 


Kershaw Co. 


10 May 1781 


Greene 
















91 


Orangeburgh 


Orangeburg Co. 


11 May 1781 


Sumter 


500 














92 


if'ort iMotte 


Orangeburg Co. 


U May 1781 


.Marion & Lee 


880 














93 


<jranby 


Lexington Co. 


15 MaV 1781 


Sumter & Lee 


SOii 














94 


Beach Island 


Aiken Co. 


15 May 1781 


Clarke 




6 




6 








95 


Fort Galphin 


Aiken Co. 


21 May 1781 


Rudulph 
















96 


Georgetown 


Georgetown Co. 


5 June 1781 


Marion 
















97 


Mydelton's ambus- 
cade 


Lexington Co. 


.June 1781 


Mydelton 


150 












1 


9S 


JTinety Six 


Abbeville Co. 


12 May to 19 
June 1781 


Greene 


iOOO 






185 






1 


99 


Eggleston's capture 


Lexington Co. 


8 July 1781 


Eggleston 


50 














10(1 


Horse Shoe 


Colleton Co. 


S July 1781 


Hayne 




14 


1 


15 








101 


liuarter House 


Charleston Co. 


15 July 1781 


Hampton, W. 




1 












l(t2 


Wadboo 


Berkeley Co. 


16 July 1781 


Sumter 
















loy 


Quinby Bridge 


Berkeley Co. 


July 1781 


Sumter 


700 






60 








104 


Washington's raid 


Berkeley Co. 


July 1781 


Washington 
















lor, 


Cuningham's raid 


Laurens Co. 


1 Aug. 1781 






8 




8 








106 


Fork of Edisto 


Orangeburg Co. 


Aug. 1781 


Rumph 




18 




18 








107 


Parker's Ferry 


Colleton Co. 


31 Aug. 1781 


Marion 


200 














108 


Gharlestown Road 


Berkeley Co. 


31 Aug. 1781 


Cooper 
















109 


Turkey Creek 


Edgefield Co. 


6 Sept. 1781 










10 








110 


Kutaw 


Berkeley Co. 


9 Sept. 1781 


Greene 


2098 


139 


370 


509 




8 




111 


Stevens's Creek 


Edgefield Co. 


5 Oct. 1781 


Hammond 




8 


17 


25 








112 


Vince's Fort 


Barnwell Co. 


25 Oct. 1781 


yince 
















113 


Cloud's Creek 


Edgefield Co. 


7 Nov. 1781 


Turner 


30 


28 




28 








114 


Hayes's Station 


Laurens Co. 


Nov. 1781 


Hayes 




18 












115 


Gowen's Fort 


Greenville Co. 


Nov. 1781 


















116 


Moore's surprise 


Orangeburg Co. 


Nov. 1781 


Moore 








12 








117 


Fair Lawn 


Berkeley Co. 


27 Nov. 1781 


Shelby & 
Maham 
Hampton, R. 


380 














118 


R. Hampton's sur- 


Orangeburg Co. 


Nov. 1781 




11 














prise 






















119 


Dorchester 


Berkeley Co. 


1 Dec. 1781 


Hampton, W. 
















120 


Dorchester 


Berkeley Co. 


29 Dec. 1781 


Armstrong 




7 








8 




121 


Videau's Bridge 


Berkeley Co. 


3 Jan. 1782 


Richardson 




57 








20 





APPENDIX B 



749 



BUITISH, TORY, OR INDIAN 



14 






-3 


3§ 


til 


S 


S 




g 


P 


1 


5 
o 


1^ 


p 


o 


1^ 




o 


£ 


3 


^ 


M 


s 


(£ 


< 




rton 




1 


3 






3 


1 




bwick 


35 

150 


1 


7 


8 




2 


10 


British kill and wound several 


a wick 


91 










91 


91 


Post captured by Harden 


Kay 


120 










120 


120 


Post captured by Marion and Lee 


ry officer 




16 




16 






16 


Tory party dispersed 


:)wne 


670 














Harden defeated by Browne 


rke 
















Post captured by Hammond 


ry officer 
















Company of Tories captured 


wdon 


900 


38 
IS 
3 


220 






12 


258 
18 
15 


Greene defeated by Rawdon 


"tvdon 


















itish officer 


100 










100 


100 




Phorsoii 


150 










150 


150 


Fort taken by Marion and Lee 


xwell 


310 










340 


340 


Fort taken by Lee 


owne 




4 








126 


130 


Marion takes Georgetown without loss 


ffin 
















Mydelton's command routed 


uger 


550 


27 


5S 


85 






85 


Siege of Ninety Six 


tish officer 


60 










45 


45 




aser 


















uiffh 




1 








50 


51 




ates 


















ates 


TOO 


7 


38 


45 




100 


145 




ningham, W. 


















nnavvay 
















Party of Royal militia attack and disperse 
Americans 


iser 
















Marion ambuscades British party under 

Fraser 
Cooper raids within 10 miles of Charleston 


lllams, Ilez. 


















aart 


2300 


82 


335 


417 




247 


664 


Battle of Eutaw 


lliams, Hez. 


















Uiams, Hez. 
















American post captured and burnt by To- 
ries 
Whigs massacred by Tories 


ningham, W. 


300 














ningham, W. 




1 


5 


6 








Whigs massacred by Tories 


tes 
















American fort ciiptured; garrison massa- 
cred 


ningham, R. 


500 










80 


80 


Moore, commanding a party, routed 
Post taken and burnt 


ningham, W. 
















Hampton surprised and dispersed 


lart 


500 












80 


British reconnoitring party defeated and 

dispersed 
American reconnoitring party defeated 


ffin 
















IHn 


350 


1 


1 


2 






2 


Americans routed 



750 



APPENDIX B 



AMERICAN 





Battle or Action, 
etc. 


Place 
(What is now) 


Date 


t4 

-a 
a 

OS 

a 
s 

o 


o 


3 


T3 

■a 
a 

3 

o 




bo 

a 


c 

o 

£ 


h 
< 


122 


Savannah River 


Beaufort Co. 


24 Feb. 1782 


Barnwell, R. 




5 








5 




123 


Wambavr 


Berkeley Co. 


24 Feb. 1782 


McDonald 




40 








4 




124 


Tidyman'8 Planta- 
tion 


Berkeley Co. 


25 Feb. 17S2 


Marion 




20 








12 




125 


Indian Villages 


Oconee Co. 


Mar. 1782 


Pickens 


400 














126 


Beaufort 


Beaufort Co. 


13 Mar. 1782 


















127 


Galley captured, 
Ashley River 


Charleston Co. 


19 Mar. 1782 


Rudulph 
















128 


Oconee River 


Oconee Co. 


1 Apr. 1782 


Anderson 




1 












129 


Dorchester 


Berkeley Co. 


24 Apr. 1782 


O'Neal 












9 




130 


Dean Swamp 


Orangeburg Co. 


May 1782 


"Watson & 
Butler 
















131 


Lorick's Ferry 


Edgefield Co. 


May 1782 


Butler 
















132 


Bowling Green 


Marion Co. 


3 June 1782 


Marion 






1 










133 


Combahee 


Colleton Co. 


25 Aug. 1782 


Laurens 


60 


2 


19 


21 




3 




134 


Wadboo 


Berkeley Co. 


29 Aug. 1782 


Marion 
















135 


Capers' s Scout 


Berkeley Co. 


Aug. 1782 


Capers, G. S. 


12 


2 












136 


Port Royal Ferry 


Beaufort Co. 


2 Sept. 1782 


Gist 
















137 


John's Island 


Charleston Co. 


14 Nov. 1782 


Wilmot 

















I I 



APPENDIX B 



751 



BRITISH, TORY, OR INDIAN 



■a 

s 
a 

B 
o 

O 






■s 

n 

3 

o 




i 


a 

a 
o 


2 
« 

fe.3 

< 




^eaux 
[n]>son 
nipson 

an chief 
V'eaux 

an chief 
kins 
' officer 

ingham, W. 

ley 

eton 

er 

ish officer 


140 
26 


40 
4 

8 


2 

7 
11 


4 




28 
500 


82 
2 

500 

7 

19 


A small affair 
Americans defeated 
Americans defeated 

Several Indians killed ; villages destroyed 

Body of Tories attacked and dispersed 

Cuningham's band dispersed 

Gainey's band of Tories surrender 

Small affair, in which Col. John Laurens 

was killed 
Last action in which Marion engaged 
British Black Dragoons cut to pieces 
Balfour galley taken 
Capt. Wilmot killed on John's Islaud 



TABLE OF BATTLES, ACTIONS, AND ENGAGEMENTS WHICH 
TOOK PLACE IN SOUTH CAROLINA DURING THE REVO- 
LUTION, ARRANGED BY COUNTIES i 



Abbeville 



Aiken . . 
Anderson 
Barnwell 
Beaufort . 

Berkeley . 



Charleston . 



Chester . . 
Chesterfield 
Clarendon . 

Colleton . . 



Darlington , 
Edgefield . 

Fairfield . . 



Ninety Six, 1775 ; Cherokee lord. Savannah River; Long 
Cane ; Hammond's Store ; Beattie's Mill ; Ninety Six, 
1781. 

Beach Island ; Fort Galphin. 

Great Cane Brake, Cherokee Indian Town ; Essenecca. 

Wiggins's Hill ; Vince's Fort. 

Beaufort ; Coosawhatchie ; Fort Balfour, Pocotaligo ; 
Savannah River ; Port Royal Ferry, 

Monck's Corner, 1780 ; Lenud's Ferry ; Monck's Corner, 
1781 ; Wadboo ; 2d Wadboo ; Quinby Bridge (Shu- 
brick's) ; Washington's Raid ; Charlestown Road ; 
Eutaw ; Fair Lawn ; Dorchester, Dec. 1, 1781 ; Dor- 
chester, Dec. 29, 1781 ; Videau's Bridge ; Wambaw; 
Tidyman's Plantation ; Dorchester, April 24, 1782 ; 
Wadboo, Aug. 29, 1782 ; Capers's Scout. 

Naval battle ; Fort Moultrie; Provost's Invasion ; Stono ; 
Galley fight, Stono River; Mathews's Plantation ; Cap- 
ture of seven British vessels ; Schooner Battlesnake ; 
Rantowle's ; Siege of Charlestown ; Quarter House ; 
Galley Capture, Ashley River ; John's Island. 

Beckham's Old Field ; Fishing Creek ; Fishdam. 

Nelson's Ferry ; Singleton's Mill (Halfway Swamp) ; 

Wright's Bluff ; Wiboo Swamp ; Fort Watson. 
Salkehatchie ; Pon Pou ; Four Holes ; Barton's Post ; 

Pocotaligo Road ; Horse Shoe ; Parker's Ferry ; Com- 

bahee. 
Hunt's Bluff. 
Mathews's Bluff ; Horner's Corner ; Hammond's Mill ; 

Stevens's Creek ; Cloud's Creek ; Lorick's Ferry. 
Mobley's Meeting-house ; Dutchman's Creek. 



1 These counties are as the counties existed prior to the recent subdivisions. 

752 



APPENDIX B 



753 



Georgetown . . De Peyster's Capture ; White's Bridge, Sampit Road ; 

Georgetown ; Sampit Bridge ; Witherspoon's Ferry ; 

Georgetown. 
Greenville . . . Gowen's Fort. 
Hampton . . . This county was much traversed by the armies in 1779. 

Horry The scene of Tory operations. 

Kershaw .... Flat Rock ; Camden ; Rugeley's Mill ; Lynch's Creek ; 

Hobkirk's Hill ; Evacuation of Camden. 
Lancaster . . . Buford's Massacre ; Rocky Mount ; Hanging Rock ; 

2d Hanging Rock ; Waxhaws Church. 
Laurens .... Lyndley's Fort ; Musgrove's Mills ; Cuningham's Raid ; 

Hayes's Station. 
Lexington . . . Granby ; Mydelton ambuscaded ; Eggleston's Capture ; 

Tarrar's. 

Marion Snow Island ; Bowling Green. 

Marlboro. . . . 

Newberry . . . Williams's Plantation ; Mud Lick ; Bush River. 
Oconee Brass Town ; Oconore ; Tomassy ; Indian Villages ; Oco- 
nee River. 
Orangeburg . . Thomson's Plantation ; Orangeburgh (May, 1781) ; Fort 

Motte ; Fork of Edisto ; Moore's Surprise ; R. Hamp- 
ton's Surprise ; Dean Swamp. 
Pickens .... 

Richland. . . . Wateree ; Friday's Ferry, May, 1781. 
Spartanburg . . Cedar Springs ; Gowen's Old Fort ; McDowell's Camp ; 

Pursuit Dunlap ; Thicketty Fort ; Old Iron Works ; 

Cowpens. 
Sumter .... This county was much traversed by the armies during 

1780-81. High Hills of Santee were the headquarters 

of Greene. 

Union Brandon's Camp ; Blackstock. 

Williamsburg . Port's Ferry ; King's Tree ; Black Mingo ; Tarcote ; 

Mount Hope ; Black River. 
York Williamson's Plantation ; Stallions ; King's Mountain. 



VOL. IV. — 3 



INDEX 



Abingdon, Earl of, denounces in 
House of Lords execution of Colo- 
nel Hayue, 403. 

Alexander, Captain Samuel, incident 
couuected with his command at Au- 
gusta, 270. 

Allen, Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac, New 
Jersey Loyalist, 737. 

Allston, Captain William, Marion's 
brigade, 101 ; member of Jackson- 
borough legislature, 558. 

Amercement Act, considered, 582, 583, 
584, 585. 

Amie's Mill, fight at, 85, 86. 

Anderson, Major , disperses Tories 

at Amie's Mill, 85, 86. 

Anderson, Captain (Tory), Con- 
fiscation Act, 585. 

Anderson, Colonel Robert, despatched 
with Pickens to put down Indians, 
484; mentioned, 514; member of 
Jacksonborough legislature, 5.59; ex- 
pedition against Cherokees, 625, 654, 
655. 

Andre, Major John, order for trial of 
Colonel Hayne follows precedent in 
his case, 388. 

Andrews, Lieutenant, North Carolina, 
wounded at Eutaw, 460. 

Anthony, John, on prison ship, 358. 

Antigua, slave of John Harleston, em- 
ployed in communication with Whigs 
in Charlestown, 528. 

Archer, Captain Henry, Lee's Legion, 
80. 

Armstrong. Captain George, Mary- 
land, killed at Ninety Six, 300. 

Armstrong, Major, North Carolina, 
arrives with levies, 308; sent with 
Eggleston to reconnoitre, 309; takes 
part in battle of Eutaw, 448. 



Armstrong, Captain James, Lee's Le- 
gion, 80; Colonel Browne given in 
charge to, 273 ; at battle of Quinby 
bridge, 334, 335; attacked, defeated, 
and captured by Major Coffin, 506, 
507. 

Arnold, Benedict, sent to replace Les- 
lie in Virginia, 93, 94; mentioned, 
53(). 

Arthur, George, on prison ship, 358. 

Ash, Samuel, on prison ship, 358. 

Ashby, Colonel, in command of Mar- 
ion's infantry, 639, 649. 

Ashe, Colonel, of North Carolina, 
takes part in battle of Eutaw, 448. 

Ashe, General John, North Carolina, 
defeat of, at Brier Creek, mentioned, 
713. 

Ashley Hall, army at, 669. 

Atmore, Ralph, on prison ship, 358. 

Augusta, sieges of, 268-277. 

Axon, William, on pri.son ship, 358. 

Baddeley, John, on prison ship, 358; 
joins in reply to Balfour's announce- 
ment of holding prisoners as host- 
ages, 359, 360. 

Balfour, Lieutenant-Colonel Nisbet, 
question with Rawdon as to his com- 
mand, 97, 98; mentioned, 99, 137; 
his correspondence with Watson and 
Saunders in regard to the seizure of 
Postell, 152, 153, 154; letter of, to 
Clinton on battle of Hobkirk's Hill, 
203 ; meets Rawdon at Nelson's 
Ferry with report of rising of the 
country, 249; Rawdon's despatches 
to Cruger to abandon Ninety Six 
sent through. 2.56: mentioned, 280; 
applies to Colonel Gould for reen- 
forcf ments, 306, 307 ; correspondence 
with Moultrie in regard to treat- 



755 



756 



INDEX 



meut of prisoners, 347, 348 ; attempts 
to seduce Moultrie, 355; correspoud- 
ence with Moultrie upon subject of 
imprisonment of Grimke and Hab- 
ersham, 355, 356; issues order for- 
bidding prisoners on parole from 
pursuing any business or calling, 
355, 356 ; seizes paroled prisoners as 
hostages, 359; relations with Lord 
Rawdou, 367 ; headquarters at Brew- 
ton mansion, ibid. ; his tyrannical 
conduct, 3u8, 369 ; orders families of 
exiles out of province, 375 ; prohibits 
prisoners on parole from letting their 
houses, 376 ; his cruel edict men- 
tioned, 379; his course in regard to 
Colonel Hayne, 382-404 ; mentioned, 
542, 725. 

Balfour, Fort, taken by Harden, 135; 
mentioned, 226, 239, 537, 538, 551. 

Balfour Galley, capture of, 652. 

Ball, Elias, of Comingtee, in Con- 
fiscation Act, 586. 

Ball, Elias, of Wamtaw, in Confisca- 
tion Act, 586. 

Ball, Joseph, on prison ship, 358. 

Bailingall, Colonel Robert, Loyal- 
ist attacked by Harden, 129, i;30 ; 
his connection with Colonel 
Hayne's case, 130, 131; mentioned, 
136. 

Baltimore, objective point of British 
campaign, 93. 

Banks, John, his fraudulent trans- 
actions, 180, 677, 678, 679, 680, 681, 
682, 683, 684; secures, contract to 
feed army, 681, 682. 

Barfield, Captain (Tory), men- 
tioned, 84. 

Barge, George, commissioner of Penn- 
sylvania for Carolinian exiles in 
Philadelphia, 379. 

Barnabas Deane & Co., General 
Greene a partner of firm of. 

Barnwell. Edward, on prison ship, 359. 

Bs.rnwell, John, on prison ship, 359 ; 
joins in reply to Balfour's announce- 
ment of holding prisoners as host- 
ages, 360; appointed brigadier- 
general, 529, 530; resigns, 594; 
mentioned, 611; on committee on 
subject of impressments, 687. 



Barnwell, Robert, on prison ship, 
359; commands party against De 
Veaux's expedition, 611 ; mentioned, 
731. 

Barry, Captain Henry, prepares ad- 
dress to Rawdon and Balfour in 
Colonel Hayne's case, 385, 386. 

Barton, Captain (Br.), captured 

by Harden, 134. 

Barton's Post, captured by Harden, 
134; mentioned, 537, 538, 551. 

Basquin, William, on prison ship, 358. 

"Bates, Bloody," massacres garri- 
son of Gowen's fort, 477, 479, 480. 

Baxter, John, captain in Marion's bri- 
gade, 82,100; mentioned, 120; takes 
part in Sumter's expedition to Low- 
Country, 322; is wounded, 338; 
mentioned, 514; member of Jack- 
sonborough legislature, 558; holds 
Loyalists in check, 639 ; mentioned, 
718. 

Bayard, Colonel John, commissioner 
of Pennsylvania for Carolinian ex- 
iles in Philadelphia, 379, 380. 

Bayle, Francis, on prison ship, 358. 

Baylor, Colonel George (Va.), in 
command of Greene's cavalry, 638. 

Beach Island, affair at, 264. 

Beale, Captain, takes part in battle 
of Cowpens, 41 ; his command as 
major on reorganization of Greene's 
forces, 637. 

Beard, Colonel Jonas, prisoner in 
provost, 3()8. 

Beattie, Captain William, killed at 
Hobkirk's Hill, 192, 197 ; mentioned, 
199, 551. 

Beattie's Mill, affair at, 127; men- 
tioned, 257, 537,538. 

Beckham's Old Field, affair at, men- 
tioned, 735. 

Bee, Joseph, on prison ship, 358; 
member of Jacksonborough legisla- 
ture, 558. 

Bee, Thomas, Lieutenant-Governor, 
member Jacksonborough legisla- 
ture, 558; mentioned, 570. 

Eenbridge. Henry, on prison ship, 3.58. 

Bennett, Captain Thomas, Marlon's 
brigade, 100; gallant conduct at Vi- 
deau's bridge, 591. 



INDEX 



757 



Benison. Major William, of Marion's 
brigade, 99; member of the Jack- 
suuburough legislature, 558; takes 
part iu affair at Wambaw, 602, 603 ; 
and is killed, 604. 

Benson, Captain Perry, at Hobkirk's 
Hill, 191. 

Benson, Major (Br.), mentioned, 346. 

Benton, Colonel Lemuel, Marion's 
brigade, Sli. 

Beresford, Richard, member privy 
council, 572; lieutenant-governor, 
685. 

Berwick, John, clerk. House of Rep- 
resentatives, 562. 

Biggin Church, Coates crosses to, 
from Monck's Corner, and burns, 
331. 

Bingham, William, commissioner of 
Pennsylvania for Carolinian exiles 
in Philadelphia, 379. 

Black, Captain , takes part in 

expedition against Cherokees, 625. 

Black River, affair at, 118 ; mentioned, 
537, 538, 551, 723. 

Blackstock, Battle of, mentioned, 54, 
55, 57, 720. 

Blake, Edward, exile, and member 
of the Jacksonborough legislature, 
557; commissioner of the treasury, 
572 ; commissioner to carry out 
agreement between Governor Math- 
ews and General Leslie to prevent 
plunder on evacuation, 659, 660; re- 
called, 661. 

Blake, John, on prison ship, 359. 

Blewford, Major, of Sumter's com- 
mand, mentioned, 485. 

Blount, Major, of North Carolina, 
takes part in the battle of Eutaw, 
448. 

Blundell, Nathan, on prison ship, 358. 

Booker, Lieutenant (Br.) , commander 
of Balfour galley when captured, 
652. 

Bocquet. Major Peter, prisoner in pro- 
vost, 369; member of the Jackson- 
borough legislature, 557; member 
pri^'y council, 572, 685; on commit- 
tee on subject of impressment, 687. 

Boone's Barony, purchased for Gen- 
eral Greene, 703. 



Boon (Boone ?), Lieutenant, wounded 
at Eutaw, 461. 

Boimetheau, Peter, on prison ship, 358. 

Bowie, Major, Governor Rutledge 
sends blank commissions to Sumter 
by, 510. 

Bowman, John, correspondent of the 
Duke of Rii-hmoud, 408. 

Braddock's Defeat, mentioned, 709. 

Bradley, James, member of Jackson- 
borough legislature, 559. 

Brandon, Colonel Thomas, mentioned, 
229; mancjeuvres between Augusta 
and Ninety Six, 263; mentioned, 285, 
286, 514 ; member of Jacksonborough 
legislature, 559; mentioned, 731. 

Branford, William, on prison ship, 
359. 

Bratton, Colonel William, mentioned, 

I, 54, 149, 229, 424, 514, 717. 
Brewton Mansion, scene of ladies' ap- 
peal for Hayne's life, 394, 395. 

Bricken, John, on prison ship, 358. 

British Forces in South Carolina, 
strength of, 9<5, 97. 

Brockington, Captain John (Tory), 
warns Watson of Lee's approach, 
172. 

Brooks, Captain, warns Colonel Hayes 
of Cuuinghani's approach, 473. 

Brown, William, commissary pris- 
oners, St. Augustine, kindly con- 
duct to exiles, 372, 373, 376. 

Browne, Captain, takes part in battle 
of Eutaw, 448. 

Browne, Colonel Thomas (Tory), 
Cruger, commanding Ninety Six, 
directed to join him, 256; sends 
party to dislodge McKoy from 
Mathews's Bluff, party defeated, 
259; moves against Harden, 259; 
affair at Wiggms's Hill, 259, 260, 261 ; 
mentioned, 263, 264 ; commands Fort 
Cornwallis at siege of Augusta, 268; 
his conduct of its defence, 269, 270, 
271, 272; surrender, 273; measures 
taken for his protection, notwith- 
standing his former cruelties, 273; 
is safely guarded to Savannah, 275. 

Buford, Colonel Abraham, mentioned, 

II, .-?(!, -M. 

Bull, Lieutenant-Governor William, 



758 



INDEX 



his appeal for Colonel Hayiie, 395, 
396 ; ouspicuous absence of his name 
in Couliscation Act, 58i, 585. 

Bull, General Stephen, his planta- 
tion ravaged and house burnt, 610. 

Burdell's Plantation, Greene's army 
at, 4(i4. 

Burgoyne, General, exchanged for 
General Moultrie, 668; mentioned, 
711, 712. 

Burgoyne's Army, mentioned, 346, 347. 

Burke, .ffidanus, as judge presides in 
case of Sumter's law, 146, 147. 

Burke, Governor, of North Carolina, 
sends express to Greene, 464 ; is cap- 
tured, 465, 466 ; his capture alluded 
to, 49(5. 

Burnett, Major Ichabod, aide to Gen- 
eral Greene, 8 ; writes to Sumter by 
Greene's direction, 418; becomes 
involved with Banks & Co.'s trans- 
actions, 677, 678, 679. 

Bush Kiver, affair at, 209; mentioned, 
551. 

Butler, Captain James, killed by 
"Bloody Bill" Cuningham, 471. 

Butler, James, Jr., killed by " Bloody 
Bill " Cuningham, 471. 

Butler, Pierce, member Jackson- 
borough legislature, 558 ; sketch of, 
ibid. 

Butler, Thomas, accompanies his 
brother William against "Bloody 
Bill " Cuningham, 629. 

Butler, William (son of James), es- 
capes massacre, 473; takes part in 
affair at Deane Swamp, 627, 628, 
629 ; becomes leader of the Whigs 
against "Bloody Bill" Cuningham, 
and ultimately defeats him and dis- 
perses his band, 628, 629, 630^ 631; 
mentioned, 731. 

Caldwell, John, William Cuningham 
enlists under and mutinies against, 
468. 

Calhoun (properly spelled Colhoun), 
John Ewing, member Jackson- 
borough legislature, 559. 

Calhoun, Patrick, member of Jack- 
sonborough legislature, 559. 

Camden, Greene appears before, 182, 
183, 186 ; takes position against, 188 ; 



Rawdon marches from and attacks 
Greene, 189; abandonment of ren- 
dered necessary, 202; Watson, Mc- 
Arthur, and Doyle succeed in mak- 
ing their way into, 213, 215 ; Rawdon 
determines to abandon, 235; men- 
tioned, 239. 

Cameron, William, property confis- 
cated, 586. 

Campbell, Colonel Alexander (Br.), 
mentioned, 713, 736. 

Campbell, Captain (Br ), at bat- 
tle of Quinby bridge, 333, 334. 

Campbell, Captain, New Jersey Vol- 
unteers (Tory), commands sallying 
party at Ninety Six, 300. 

Campbell, Captain Architald (Br.), 
"Mad Archie," captures Hajiie, 
320, 321 ; is killed in affair at 
Videau's bridge, 592 ; romantic 
tradition in regard to, ibid. 

Campbell, Lieutenant-Colonel George 
(Br.), surrenders at Georgetown, 87. 

Campbell, Lieutenant-Colonel Rich- 
ard, of Virginia, at Hobkirk's Hill, 
191, 192, 197 ; takes part at siege of 
Ninety Six, 299, 300 ; takes part in 
battle of Eutaw, 448; is killed, 460, 
462. 

Campbell, Colonel William, of Vir- 
ginia, mentioned, 1, 223. 

Carleton, Sir Guy, appointed com- 
mauder-in-chief in America, 636. 

Capers, G. Sinclair, Marion's brigade, 
101 ; gallant conduct at Videau's 
bridge, 591; another gallant action 
of, 651. 

Capers, William, Marion's brigade, 
101. 

Carey, Fort, Sumter's affair at, men- 
tioned, 36. 

Carlisle, volunteer, killed at Eutaw, 
460. 

Games, Captain Patrick (Lee's Le- 
gion), 80; takes part in attempt 
upon Geoigetowu, 86, 87. 

Carolina Coffee House, London, men- 
tioned, 707. 

Carr, Captain Patrick, surprises, de- | 
feats, and kills Major Dill, 264. 

Carrington, Cornet Clements (Lee's 
Legion), 80. 



INDEX 



759 



Carrington, Colonel Edward, quarter- 
master to General Greene, 8 ; men- 
tioned, 163; ordered to Rugeley's 
Mill, 188, 189. 

Carrington, Mr., volunteer, wounded 
at Eutaw, 4()1. 

Carrington, Lieutenant George (Lee's 
Legion) , 80 ; mentioned, 27!) ; at bat- 
tle of Quinby bridge, 335. 

Carrington, Lieutenant-Colonel Richr 
ard (Va.), at Hobkirk's Hill, 188, 
189; negotiates cartel of exchange 
of prisoners, 356; makes contract 
with Banks & Co. to feed army, 680, 
681,682. 

Carson, Lieutenant, wounded mor- 
tally at Eutaw, 461. 

"Cassius," Address of, in answer to 
Governor Rutledge's proclamation 
in regard to Tories, 524, 525, 526; 
bears good fruit, 588. 

Cattell, Benjamin, member of Privy 
Council, 511; member of the Jack- 
sonbo rough legislature, 557. 

Cedar Springs, Battle of, mentioned, 
19. 

Charlestown Road, Cooper's raid on 
same, 440. 

Cherokee Indians, uprising of, 484, 
485, 624, 625, tioS, 6.34. 

Cheshire, Captain, Royal Militia, ne- 
gotiates truce on part of Tories, 
626, 627; is seized by Major Good- 
win, ibid. 

Cheraw Hill, Greene's army marches 
to, 15. 

Chitty, Captain C. K, commissary, 
mentioned, 66, 67. 

Clarke, Lieutenant-Colonel Allured 
(Br.), commands at St. Augustine, 
374 ; now general, sends Creek 
Indians to join Cherokecs, 653, 654. 

Clarke, Colonel Elijah, of Georgia, 
mentioned, 1, 23, 38, 55; with Mc- 
Call attacks Dunlap at Beattie's 
Mill, 127, 128; mentioned, 150,223, 
258 ; stricken with small-pox, 258 ; 
Williamson commands in his ab- 
sence, ibid.: recovers, marches to 
Augusta, 263, 2()4; captures goods 
sent by British to Indians, 265, 266; 
mentioned, 279 ; Greene calls upon, 



to join him, 286; his operations con- 
fined to Georgia, 553 ; joins Ander- 
son against Cherokees, 625; joins 
Pickens in last expedition against 
Cherokees, 654, 655, 656 ; mentioned, 
719, 7.3(). 

Clarke, John, Jr., on prison ship, 358. 

Clarke, Captain (Tory), killed, 

262. 

Clary, Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel 
(Tory), named in Confiscation Act, 
585, 586. 

Cleveland, Colonel Benjamin, of 
North Carolina, mentioned, 1, 223. 

Clinton, Sir Henry, commander-in- 
chief British army, orders Leslie 
to reeuforce Cornwallis in South 
Carolina, 8, 9 ; sends Arnold to re- 
place Leslie iu Virginia, 93, 94; his 
criticism upon Cornwallis's advance, 
93, 94; effect of his proclamation 
revoking paroles, 149, 150 ; letter of 
Balfour to, on battle of Hobkirk's 
Hill, 203; mentioned, 382; his move- 
ments in consequence of arrival of 
second French fleet, 436, 437 ; men- 
tioned, 508, 711, 714, 715, 716, 719. 

Cloud's Creek Massacre, 471, 472, 473 ; 
mentioned, 551. 

Coates, Lieutenant-Colonel (Br.), sent 
with regiment to Monck's Comer, 
325 ; moves to Quinby bridge, 331 ; 
commands British force at battle of, 
.3.32, 343. 

Cochran, Thomas, on prison ship, 359. 

Coffin, Major John, Loyalist from 
Massachusetts, commands at Nel- 
son's Ferry, 17; mentioned, 78; at 
battle of Hobkirk's Hill, 194, 195, 196 ; 
cavalry raised for his command, 292 ; 
ambuscades Mydelton, 198; at 
Eutaw, 444, 446, 447, 449, 453, 456, 
457; one of the heroes of, 463; at- 
tacks, defeats, and captures Captain 
Armstrong of Lee's Legion, 506, 507; 
attacks and defeats Richardson at 
Videau's bridge, 590, 591; men- 
tioned, 7.37. 

Colcock, Mr. John, coimsel for Colonel 
Hayne, 391; his opinion on case, 
392. 

Combahee, Leslie sends expedition to, 



760 



INDEX 



for supplies, 641 ; affair at John 
Laurens's deatli, (542, 643, 644. 

Confiscation Act of Jacksonborough 
legislature, 576; its preamble, 576, 
577; provisions of, 578, 579; the 
same considered, 580, 581, 582, 583, 
584, 585, 586, 587, 588. 

Connaway, Captain, Royal militia, at- 
tacks and disperses one of Harden's 
parties on Edisto, 434. 

Conyers, Captain Daniel, Marion's 
brigade, 82, 100 ; takes part iu am- 
buscade of Watson, 114; distin- 
guishes himself, 117; mentioned, 
171, 428; major of new corps, 639; 
his command consolidated with 
that of Maham, 639; takes part in 
affair at Fayssoux's, 651. 

Conyers, Norwood, on prison ship, 359. 

Cook, John, killed by " Bloody Bill " 
Cuningham at Hayes's Station, 475. 

Cooper, Captain George, detached by 
Marion to Dorchester, 439. 

Cooper, Major, under Harden captures 
Barton's post, 134. 

Cooper, Lieutenant, brings answer to 
Colonel Hayne refusing respite, 394 ; 
reads message granting respite, 397. 

Cooper, Captain Samuel, Marion's 
brigade, 101 ; routes Tories at 
Cypress swamp, 440 ; raids Charles- 
town road, ibid.; takes conspicuous 
part in affair at Videau's bridge, 
591. 

Corley, Abner, accompanies William 
Butler against "Bloody Bill" Cun- 
ingham, 629. 

Corley, John, accompanies William 
Butler against "Bloody Bill" Cun- 
uigham, 529, 6:50. 

Cornwallis, Earl, General Leslie 
ordered to reeuforce him, 9; pre- 
pares for renewed advance into 
North Carolina, 26, 27; begms his 
march into North Carolma, 92 ; not 
deterred by Greene's position at 
Cheraw, 95 ; mentioned, 96, 183, 184 ; 
reports of his movements, 210, 211 ; 
Rawdon complains of, 225 ; despatch 
to Rawdon in regard to landing of 
reenf orcements intercepted, 284, 291 ; 
calls upon Moultrie to order Pendle- 



ton back as prisoner, 346 ; unfavor- 
able to Balfour, 382 ; Hayne executed 
under general instructions of, 400; 
Greene writes to him on subject, 
ibid.; mentioned, 536, 539, 540, 554, 
626; exchanged for Henry Laurens, 
636; mentioned, 714, 717, 718, 719, 
720, 726. 

Cornwallis, Captain (Br.), negotiates 
cartel of exchange of prisoners, 356. 

Cornwallis, Fort, at Augusta, siege of, 
268, 269, 270. 

Cowan, Captain, wounded at Eutaw, 
461. 

Cowan's Ford, affair at, 120. 

Cowpens, Battle of, 33-51 ; mentioned, 
91, 92, 96; British losses at, 95; 
mentioned, 536, 551. 

Cox, James, on prison ship, 358. 

Craig, Colonel, garrison of Wilming- 
ton under, removed to Charlestown, 
492; posted on John's Island, 493; 
mentioned, 501 ; expedition against, 
502, 503, 504, 505, 506. 

Cray, Joseph, on prison ship, 359. 

Cruden, commissioner of secjuestered 
estates, gives ball upon news of bat- 
tle of Guilford Court-house, 156. 

Cruger, Lieutenant-Colonel John 
Harris, Pickeus's message to, 21 ; 
Rawdon's despatches to him to 
abandon Ninety Six intercepted, 
255, 256, 263; mentioned, 264; his 
defence of Ninety Six, 280, 303; 
mentioned, 305; left at Ninety Six, 
307 ; covers Loyalists' exodus from 
Ninety Six, 314, 315; mentioned, 
316; at Eutaw, 444; mentioned, 
543, 544, 737. 

Culpeper, Lieutenant, wounded at 
Eutaw, 461. 

Cuningham, Andrew, mentioned, 469; 
name in Confiscation Act, 585. 

Cuningham, John, mentioned, 469; 
name in Conti.<eatiou Act, 585. 

Cuningham, Joseph, compelled by 
Butler to guide him against his 
brother, 620. 

Cuningham, Patrick, mentioned, 469. 

Cuningham, Robert, made brigadier- 
general of loyal militia, is defeated 
at Williams's plantation, 24, 25, 27; 



INDEX 



761 



defeats Major Moore, 485; men- 
tioned, 541); avails liimself of terms 
and makes liis peace, (57. 

Cuningham, William, "Bloody Bill," 
sketch of, 4(17, 468, 4t)',l, 470; his 
bloody exploits, 470, 471, 472, 473, 
474, 475; defeats Colonel Richard 
Hampton and disperses his party, 
490; his second raid, is ultimately 
defeated and his band dispersed 
by William Butler, 628, G29, 630, 
631. 

Cunningham, Major John, of Georgia, 
commands Clarke's men at affair 
at Hammond's Store, 23; commands 
Georgians at Cowpens, 32, 33, 42, 44 ; 
marches with Pickens against Che- 
rokees, 624. 

Currency, Table of depreciation of, 
365, .366, .367. 

Davidson, General William, of North 
Carolina, mentioned, 1 ; his com- 
mand at Cowi^ens, 31, 38; Greene 
rides to consult, 94 ; killed at Cow- 
an's Ford, 120; mentioned, 446, 481, 
553. 

Davie, Colonel William K., men- 
tioned, 1 ; accepts position as com- 
missary, 13, 14, 15; mentioned, 55, 
121, 163; quoted, 190; his account 
of Greene's plans for abandonment 
of campaign in South Carolina, 216, 
217, 218, 219; mentioned, 223, 446, 
653, 677, 718, 719. 

Da vies, Colonel, negotiates truce with 
Tories, 627. 

Davis, Captain W. R., Sumter's 
order to, 428, 429, 430. 

Dawkins, Captain (Br.), attacks and 
defeats O'Neal at Dorchester, 624. 

Dean Swamp, affair at, 627, 628, 
629. 

D'Estaing, mentioned, 483, 736. 

DeGrasse, Count, mentioned, 54; ar- 
rives with second French fleet, 43(5 ; 
refuses cooperation for recovery of 
Charlestowu, 481, 482; mentioned, 
483, 484. 

D3 Lancey's Corps, mentioned, 280 ; at 
buttle of Eutaw, 4.");;. 

DiPeyster, Captain James, captured 
by Postell, 83; mentioned, 551. 



DeSaussure, Daniel, member privy 
council, 685. 

De Saussure, Henry W., on prison 
ship, 359. 

DeSaussure, Mary, petition of, to 
Balfour, 378. 

DeVeaus, Andrew (Tory), conducts 
a raid against Wayne in Georgia, 
610, 611. 

Dewall, Lieutenant (Md.), killed at 
Eutaw, 4()0. 

Dewar, Robert, on prison ship, 359. 

Dill, Major (Tory), surprised, de- 
feated, and killed, 264. 

Dillon, Lieutenant, of North Carolina, 
killed at Eutaw, 460. 

Dixon, Lieutenant, of North Caro- 
lina, wounded at Eutaw, 460. 

Dobson, Captain (Md.), killed at 
Eutaw, 460. 

Dorchester, taken by Lee, 327 ; Hamp- 
ton defeats Loyalists at, 491 ; men- 
tioned, 551. 

Dorsius, Joseph, on pri.son ship, 358 
(misspelled in text Dorsus). 

Doyle, Lieutenant-Colonel John (Br.), 
directed to cooperate with Watson 
in crushing Marion, 112 ; incident 
related by, ibid.; attacks and defeats 
Erwin at Snow Island, 118; Marion 
attacks and defeats him, ibid.; gets 
into Camden, 213, 215; mentioned, 
251 ; joins Rawdon on his march to 
Ninety Six, 292; sails for Europe 
with Lord Rawdon, is captured at 
sea, 424; Stuart turns over com- 
mand to, 466; mentioned, 537, 538, 
540; commands royal militia in 
Colonel Thompson's raids, 603, 604 ; 
mentioned, 723. 

Drayton, William Henry, Death of, 
mentioned, 646. 

Drew, Lieutenant, wounded, 461. 

Drew, Captain (Va.), mentioned, 12. 

Dudley, Lieutenant, North Carolina, 
wounded, 460. 

Duncan, James, on confiscation list, 
586. 

Dunlap, Major James (Br.), his 
sanguinaiy career, is mortally 
wounded, as supposed by Captain 
Gilbert, because of abduction of 



762 



INDEX 



Mary McRea, 19, 20; plunders 
Pickens's house, his cruel conduct to 
McCall's family, ibid.; his attack 
and defeat by Clarke and McCall 
at Beattie's Mill, 127 ; question as to 
his death, 128 ; mentioned, 226, 276, 
537, 737. 

Dunlap, Joseph, on prison ship, 358. 

Dunn Ads. Porter, case of, 145, 146, 
147. 

Dutchman's Creek, affair at, 126, 127 ; 
mentioned, 538, 551. 

Dwig'ht, Nathaniel, member of Jack- 
sonborough legislature, 558. 

Earle's Ford, affair at, mentioned, 19. 

Eaton, Major Pinkertham (N.C.), 
joins Greene with North Carolina 
levies, 188 ; mentioned 251 ; takes 
part in siege of Augusta, 268, 269; 
is killed, 270; mentioned, 277, 442. 

Eberly, John, on prison ship, 358. 

Edgerly, Captain (Md.), killed at 
Eutaw, 460. 

Edisto, Fork of, Tory leader Will- 
iams's raids into, 476. 

Edmunds, Rev. James, on prison 
ship, 358. 

Edmunds, Captain Thomas (Va.), 
takes part in battle of Eutaw, 448 ; 
killed, 460. 

Edwards, John, on prison ship, 359. 

Edwards, Mrs. , Colonel Hayue 

sends papers to, 397. 

Eggleston, Captain Joseph, Lee's 
Legion, 80; detached to attack 
picket, 121 ; his recollection as to 
movement by Greene into South 
Carolina after battle of Guilford 
Court-house, 160; negotiates sur- 
render of Maxwell at Granby, 2.37, 
238, 239; detached to reconnoitre, 
.309; mentioned, 551. 

Elliott, Joseph, on prison ship, 358. 

Elliott, Captain Thomas, appointed 
on Marion's staff, 82. 

Elliott, William, on prison ship, 359. 

Ellis, Richard, keeper Quarter House 
captured, 507. 

Erskine, Lieutenant, wounded at 
Eutaw, 461. 

Erwin, Colonel John, of Marion's 
brigade, 99; left in charge of Snow 



Island, 113; attacked and defeated 
by Doyle, 118; mentioned, 119, 154. 

Eutaw Springs, Battle of, 441-463; 
strength of forces at, 443, 444; men- 
tioned, 544, 551. 

Evacuation of Charlestown, 671, 672, 
673, 674, (i75. 

Evans, John, on prison ship, 358. 

Eveleigh, Nicholas, member privy 
council, 685. 

Eveleigh, Thomas, on prison ship, 
359. 

Ewing, Lieutenant (Md.), wounded 
at Eutaw, 460. 

Exiles to St. Augustine, their treat- 
ment, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376; 
returning home, 556 ; many of them 
elected to Assembly, 557. 

Fair Lawn, affair at, 488, 489; men- 
tioned, 551. 

Fanning, notorious Tory leader of 
North Carolina, mentioned, 639. 

Fayssoux, Dr. Peter, his account of 
Britisli treatment of prisoners, 349. 

Fenwick, Colonel, Harden's affair 
with, 1.34. 

Ferguson, Colonel Patrick, men- 
tioned, 30. 

Ferguson, Thomas, exile, of Gov- 
ernor's Council, 511; member of 
Jacksonborough legislature, 577 ; 
commissioner to purchase estate for 
General Greene, 574. 

Finley, Captain, joins Lee with piece 
of artillery, 206; uses it at Fort 
Motte, 235. 

Finn, Captain Lieutenant, wounded 
at Eutaw, 461. 

Firis, James, killed by " Bloody Bill " 
Cunin<;ham at Hayes's Station, 475. 

Fishdam, affair at, mentioned, 54, 55, 
720. 

Fisher, John, in Confiscation Act, 586. 

Flagg, George, exile, member Jack- 
son I)o rough legislature, 558. 

Flat Rock, affair at, mentioned, 720. 

Fletchall, Colonel, mentioned, 549; 
not named in Confiscation Act, 586. 

Ford, Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin, 
(Md.), at battle of Hobkirk's Hill, 
191, 192, 193; mortally wounded, 
193, 197. 



INDEX 



763 



Forsyth, Major Robert, deputy com- 
missary-general, 8; iutroduces 
John Bauks to General Greene, 
677. 

Fort Motte, siege of, 230, 231, 232, 233, 
234; mentioned, 724. 

Four Holes, affair at, 134 ; mentioned, 
537, 538, 551. 

Franklin, Dr. Benjamin, mentioned, 
49(5. 

Fraser, Major C. (Br.), intercepts 
Sumter, 110, 111 ; reenforcesRawdon, 
at Camden, l(i4; commissary of 
prisoners, 3(32, 3ti3 ; brings deatb sen- 
tence to Colonel Hayne, 393, 394; 
is ambuscaded by Slarion, 439; with 
Colonel Thompson on bis raids, pro- 
tests against bis attempt to cross the 
Ashley, its result, 607. 

French, Captain, of De Lancey's corps 
(Tory), commands sallying i)arty at 
Ninety Six, 300. 

Friday's or Fridig's Ferry, affair at, 
209. 

Fuller, William, a young volunteer, 
takes part in last fight of war, 667. 

Futhey, Captain John, Marion's bri- 
gade, 101. 

Gadsden, Christopher, immured in 
dungeon at St. Augustine, 371 ; re- 
leased; chief of party on voyage 
from St. Augustine to Philadelphia, 
377 ; member Jacksonborough legis- 
lature, 558 ; elected governor, but de- 
clines the office, 670, 571 ; his si^eech 
thereon, 571, 572; member privy 
council, 572. 

Gadsden, Philip, on prison ship, 359. 

Gainey, Major Micajah (Tory), at- 
tacked by Peter Horry, pursued and 
bayoneted, 84, 85; again takes the 
field, 120; Horry's treaty with him, 
317, 318; again rises, 466. 

Gaines, Captain William Fleming, of 
Virginia, takes part in battle of 
Eutaw, 448. 

Galphin Fort, capture of, by Rudulph, 
266; mentioned, .551. 

Garden, Dr. Alexander (Tory), refuses 
medical certificate of disability to 
Lord Rawdon upon his leaving the 
field, 384. 



Garden, Alexander, author of Gar- 
den's " Anecdotes of the Revolu- 
tion," serves as volunteer in Lee's 
Legion, 80; his father refuses asso- 
ciation with him, 384. 

Gargie, Mitchell, on prison ship, 358. 

Gates, General Horatio, endeavors to 
reorganize his vanquished army, 1 ; 
is relieved of command, ibid. ; corps 
organized by him for Morgan's com- 
mand, 10, 11 ; mentioned, 718. 

Gee, Captain, wounded at Eutaw, 461. 

Georgetown, aft'air at, 86, 87, 88 ; men- 
tioned, 551. 

Georgetown, burned by Manson, 318. 

Germain, Lord George, correspon- 
dence with Sir Henry Clinton in 
reference to Lord Rawdon's rank, 
97, 98; mentioned, 717. 

Gervais, John Lewis, his escape into 
North Carolina, 508, 511 ; member 
of Jacksonborough legislature, 559; 
chosen president of Senate, 562; 
elected delegate to Congress, 572. 

Gibbs, Major Zachariah (Tory), 
not named in Confiscation Act, 
586. 

Gibbes, William Hasell, member 
privy council, 685. 

Gibbon, John, on prison ship, 3.59. 

Gibson, Captain (Md.), wounded at 
Eutaw, 460. 

Giessendanner, Captain (Tory), men- 
tioned, 495. 

Gilbert, William, Dunlap left wounded 
at his house, 19. 

Gilespie, Captain, romantic story in 
connection with Major Dunlap's 
death, 19, 20. 

Gist, General Mordecai (Md.), men- 
tioned, 12; commands expedition 
in defence of Combahee, 641, 642, 
643, 644, 645; presses on to Port 
Royal, and returns, 652 ; enters 
Charlestowu on its evacuation, 
673. 

Glazier, Lieutenant Colonel (Br.), 
commands at St. Augustine, 375; 
exiles memorialize as to transporta- 
tion to Philadelphia, .377. 

Glover, Charles, with Hayne, but es- 
capes capture, 320. 



764 



INDEX 



Glover, Joseph, on prison ship, 358. 

Glover, Charles, accompanies Hayne, 
320. 

Goodman, Benjamin, killed by 
"Bloody Bill" Cuningham at 
Hayes's Station, 475. 

Goodman, Captain, North Carolina, 
killed at Eutaw, 460. 

Goodwin, Major, seizes Captain Che- 
shire, Royal militia, 627. 

Gordon, Lieutenant, rallies survivors 
of Washington'scommand at Eutaw, 
454; is killed, 461. 

Gornell, Ssrgeant, Pennsylvania line 
mutinies, execution of, 622, 623. 

Gould, Lieutenant (Md.), killed at 
Eutaw, 460. 

Gould, Calonel Fasten (Br.), arrives 
at Charlestowu with reeuforcemeuts 
which he allows to disembark, 291 ; 
retains command of troop, 306; 
mentioned in House of Lords as in 
command, 403, 407. 

Gjwen's Fort, massacre at, 477; men- 
tioned, 551, 7.35. 

Graham, Cap tain Joseph, North Caro- 
lina, mentioned, 1 ; takes part in 
capture of picket, 122, 123. 

Granby (Br.), post at, 229; invested 
by Sumter, 229, 2.30 ; taken by Lee, 
236, 237, 238, 239; mentioned, 279, 
446, 538, 551, 734. 

Graves, John, on prison ship, 359. 

Graves, William, on prison ship, 358. 

Grayson, Thomas, on prison ship, 359. 

Green, Major (Br.), mentioned, 293,294. 

Green, Captain John T., Marion bri- 
gade mentioned, 101. 

Greene, General Nathanael, appointed 
to command Southern Department, 
2 ; sketch of, 2, 3, 4, 5 ; appointed at 
instance of Southern delegates in 
Congress, 6; Washington's instruc- 
tions to, 6, 7 ; arrives in Philadel- 
phia, 7; his efforts there for his 
command, ibid. ; proceeds to the 
South, 8; appoints his staff, 8: ap- 
proves position at Cheraw, 16, 17; 
mentioned, 26; his lack of apprecia- 
tion of results achieved by partisan 
leaders, 56; his character and con- 
duct, 58, 59; his singular letter to 



Sumter on assuming command, 60, J 
61, 62, 63, 64, 65 ; Jiis letter to Morgan V 
on his complaint against Sumter, * 
67, 68, 69; his positiou on the Pee '^ 
Dee, 90; learns of Cornwallis's ad- ^. 
vance, his action thereon, 93; his 
ride across the country, 94 ; his posi- 
tion at Cheraw considered, 95; sug- 
gests to Marion attack upon Nelson's 
Ferry, 98; letter to Sumter, ibid.; 
meutioned, 9i) ; writes to Sumter, 
104, 105 ; appoints Pickens to com- 
mand Whig militia in North Caro- 
lina, 120; prepares for decisive 
action, 123; sends Pickens to South 
Carolina, 125, 126; Sumter sends 
letter to, by Wade Hampton, 159; 
question as to his credit for move- 
ments to South Carolina after battle 
of Guilford Court-house, 1.59, 160, 
161, 162 ; letter to Sumter informing 
him of his proposed movement into 
South Carolina, 163 ; sends letter to 
Sumter by Hyrne, 106 ; Hyrue's re- 
port thereon, and Sumter's reply 
misunderstood, 168; misconceives 
condition in South Carolina and 
Sumter's powers, 169; criticises 
Sumter, but commends Marion, 177; 
lukewarm report of, in regard to 
Sumter and Marion, to Washington 
and Reed, 178, 179, 180, 181; his 
movement back to South Carolina, 
182; receives letter from Sumter, 
183 ; letter of instructions to Sumter, 
184, 185; approaches Camden, finds 
garrison superior to his force, 18G; 
his numbers, 186, 187; advances to 
Hobkirk's Hill, reconnoitres, receives 
reenforcementsofartilleryaiid North 
Carolina levies, 188 ; orders Marion to 
join him, ibid. ; Rawdon attacks and 
defeats him, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 
195, 196; letter to Reed on loss of 
battle, 199, 200, 201 ; .summons Sum- 
ter, Marion, and Lee to join him, 
204; contemplates withdrawal of his 
army to Virsrinia, 205; moves to 
Rnoeley's Mill, 206; thence to 25 
Mile Creek, ibid.; complaints against 
Sumter, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214; 
writes to Sumter, 215; determines 



INDEX 



765 



to abandon the campaign in South 
Carolina, 216; question as to, 216, 
217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 
225, 226, 227, 228; want of horses, 
240 ; letter returning Sumter's resig- 
nation, 247, 248; refuses Sumter's 
advice to concentrate and attack 
Rawdon, his reasons therefor, 252; 
same considered, 253, 254; decides 
to move against Ninety Six, 254, 
255 ; looking to return to Virginia, 
257 ; orders Lee to Ninety Six, 264 ; 
division of goods taken by Clarke, 
257; his orders to Sumter, 278, 279; 
conducts siege of Ninety Six, 279, 
303; mentioned, 304, 305; sends Lee 
with his Legion to watch Rawdou, 
307 ; advances to Granby, 308 ; de- 
termines to strike Rawdon, ibid. ; 
but fails to do so, 309; the failure 
of his plan discussed, 310, 311, 312; 
moves against Orangeburgh, 313, 
316; retires to High Hills of Santee, 
receives communication from those 
on prison ships held as hostages, 361 ; 
receives information of Colonel 
Hayae's execution, 399; his course 
thereon, 399, 400, 401 ; in his camp 
of repose, 413; Shelby and Sevier 
start to reenforce him, but fail to do 
so, 414 ; conjui'es other causes of 
complaint against Sumter, 415-433; 
resumes offensive, 435; is joined by 
Marion, 439 ; his saying as to desert- 
ers from the respective armies, 445 ; 
commands at battle of Eutaw, 446- 
463; intends to renew action, but 
receives intelligence which forbids, 
464 ; retires to High Hills of Santee, 
465; receives intelligence of sur- 
render of Yorktown, and applies 
to Washington for cooperation of 
French fleet in tlie recoveiy of 
Charlestown, 481, 482; determines 
to cross Congaree and move against 
enemy, 484; breaks up camp on 
High Hills of Santee, moves toward 
Four Holes Swamp, 486; learns of 
the withdrawal of Shelby and Se- 
vier, 490; leaves army under Will- 
iams to move to Four Holes, 491 : 
with small escort advances to Dor- 



chester, 491 ; finds enemy prepared 
for him, ibid. ; addresses Governor 
Rutledge upon subject of employing 
negroes in army, 499, 500; arouses 
great opposition, 500, 501 ; forbids 
impressment of indigo by Lee, 520; 
cabal with Lee against Sumter, cor- 
respondence, 531, 532, 533; men- 
tioned, 538, 541, 542, 543, 546, 550, 
553; Governor Rutledge in his 
speech to Jacksonborough legislature 
extols his conduct, 564; how far en- 
titled to sole credit for redemption of 
state, 567 ; commissioners appointed 
to purchase estate for, 574; styled 
"deputy Saviour," 575 ; North Caro- 
lina and Georgia make grants to, 
575 ; the shadow of the Hunter, Banks 
& Co. affair arises, ibid. ; posted 
at Round 0, 589 ; his correspondence 
with Marion, Horry, and Maham 
upon controversy between Maham 
and Horry as to rank and command, 
595, 5i16, 597, 598, 599, 600; decides 
against Maham, moves from Skir- 
ven's plantation to Bacon's bridge, 
612; contemplates move against 
Charlestown, ibid.; appeals to Con- 
gress for assistance, 614, 615 ; com- 
plains to Governor Mathews of Mr. 
Hort, commissary, 617, 618, 619 ; has 
deeper causes of anxiety ; deplorable 
and mutinous condition of army, 
619, 620 ; renewed mutiny of Penn- 
sylvania line, 621, 622; Leslie 
addresses Greene on subject of con- 
fiscation acts, he refers him to Gov- 
ernor Mathews, 633; action upon 
Leslie's proposition for leave to ob- 
tain supplies, 637; reorganizes his 
forces, 637, 638 ; distress at death of 
John Laurens, 644, 645; advances 
Pickens to Quarter House, 652 ; sets 
up doctrine of postliminium in re- 
gard to horses recaptured, 662, 663, 
664, 665, 666, 667; enters Charles- 
town on its evacuation, 673; his 
connection with Banks & Co.'s trans- 
actions, 677, 678, 679, 680, 681, 682; 
is acquitted by Congress, 683, 684; 
mentioned, 687; addresses the As- 
sembly upon subject of repeal of 



766 



INDEX 



act granting Congress right to levy 
certain taxes, 688, 089 ; oi^ence taken 
thereat, 690; "Hampden's" letter 
in reply thereto, 690, 691, 692 ; action 
of Assembly thereon, 693; contro- 
versy with Governor Guerard over 
Governor Tonyn's flag or embassy, 
694, 695, 69(5, 697, 698, 699; his army 
and himself become unpopular, 699, 
700, 701, 702, 703; Assembly grants 
him Boone's Barony and negroes, 
which he accepts, 703; removes to 
Georgia, idid.; his death, i&ui; men- 
tioned, 720, 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 
727, 728, 729, 730, 731, 732, 735. 

Grey, Captain, affair at Dutchman's 
Creek, 126, 127. 

Qrierson, George, of WaxhawsCTorjO, 
in Confiscation Act, 585. 

Grierson, Colonel (Tory), defence of 
Augusta, 268, 269, 270, 271; mur- 
dered, 274. 

Grierson, Fort, at Augusta, siege of, 
268, 260, 270. 

Grimball, Major Thomas, member of 
the Jacksonborough legislature, 557. 

Grimke, Lieutenant-Colonel John 
Faucheraud, as judge presides in 
case under "Sumter law," 145, 
146, 147; imprisoned by British on 
flimsy pretence, 354 ; organizes party 
to release prisoners, 2.56, 257. 

Grindall's Shoals, Pacolet River, 
Tarleton outmanoeuvres Morgan 
at, 30. 

Grott, Joseph, on prison ship, 358. 

Guerard, Benjamin, on prison ship, 
359; joins in reply to Balfour's an- 
nouncement of holding prisoners as 
hostages, 360; member privy coun- 
cil, 572; commissioner on behalf of 
State to negotiate agreement to 
check plunder on both sides, 658, 
659; chosen governor, 685, 686; con- 
troversy with General Greene over 
flag on embassy from Governor 
Tonyn of Florida, 694, 695, 696, 697, 
698,699; mentioned, 729,730. 

Guerard, Peter, on prison ship, 358. 

Guest, "William (Tory) , in Confiscation 
Act, 585. 

Guilford Court-house, Battle of, men- 



tioned, 125; British rejoicing at 
Charlestown upon receipt of news 
of, 156 ; Sumter will not admit de- 
feat, 157 ; causes assigned by Greene 
for his defeat at, 157. 

Gun, Captain, case of using horses 
belonging to public, 655. 

Gunby, Lieutenant-Colonel John 
(Md.), at battle of Ilobkirk's Hill, 
191, 192, 193; court of inquiry on, 
198; Greene puts blame of loss of 
battle of Hobkirk's Hill on, 198, 199; 
mentioned, 539. 

Guristersigo , Indian chief, a Creek, 
attacks General Wayne in Georgia, 
653. 

Gwyn, boy of that name shoots Lewis, 
a Tory, 84. 

Habersham, Major, imprisoned by 
British on flimsy pretext, 354. 

Hadley, Captain Nola, wounded at 
Eutaw, 460. 

Haldane, Lieutenant (Br.) , at siege of 
Ninety Six, 280. 

Hall, George Abbott, receiver for 
South Carolina quota of supplies, 
agent of Mr. Morris, financier United 
States, 678 ; General Greene requires 
him to assist Banks, 678, 679. 

Halfway Swamp, affair at, 100, 101, 
102, 103; mentioned, 5.37, 538, 551. 

Hamilton, Colonel Alexander, leads 
storming party at Yorktown, men- 
tioned, 497. 

Hamilton, David, in prison ship, 358. 

Hamilton, Major James, Pennsylva- 
nia line, commands detachment in 
expedition against John's Island, 502, 
503, 504, 505, 506; commands party 
in taking possession of CharlestowTi 
on its evacuation, 672. 

Hamilton, Major John (Tory), not 
named in Confiscatiou Act, 586. 

Hamilton, Paul, Harden sends to in- 
vite Hayne's cooperation. 133. 

Hammond, Colonel Le Roy, joins 
Pickens in rousing people of Ninety 
Six, 262, 263; mentioned, 514; mem- 
ber of Jacksonborough legislature, 
5.5<). 

Hammond, Major Samuel, sent to 
seize General Williamson, 21; cap- 



INDEX 



767 



tures him, 22; joins Pickens iu rous- 
iug people of Ninety Six, 262, 263; 
prisoners taken at Augusta put in 
his charge, 274, 275 ; detached with 
Pickens against Indians, 486 ; men- 
tioned, 514, 537. 

Hammond, Lieutenant, wounded at 
Eutaw, 461. 

Hammond's Mill, affair at, 262. 

Hammond's Store, affair at, 23, 24; 
mentioned, 54. 

" Hampden," letter of, in reply to 
Greene's communication to Assem- 
bly, 691, 692. 

Hampton, Colonel Henry, mentioned, 
182, 229; on Sumter expedition to 
Low-Country, 322 ; seizes Four Holes 
Creek, 327 ; watches Cruger's move- 
ments, 331, 340; mentioned, 421, 424, 
425, 514, 717. 

Hampton, Major John, Colonel 
Richard Hampton's letter to him 
on subject of reorganization of 
militia, 144; mentioned, 731. 

Hampton, Colonel Richard, his letter 
to Major John upon subject of reor- 
ganization of militia, 144; men- 
tioned, 229; take part iu Sumter 
expedition to Low-Country, 322 ; is 
surprised by Cmiingham, 490; 
mentioned, 551 ; member of the Jack- 
sonborough legislature, 559; men- 
tioned, 717, 731. 

Hampton, Colonel "Wade, first men- 
tion of his joining the Whigs, 144, 
147 ; his case, 14S, 149 ; Sumter sends 
letter by, to Greene, 158; affair at 
Friday's Ferry, 209; mentioned, 229; 
in Sumter's expedition to Low- 
Country, 322; takes British guard 
at Quarter House, 327, 328, 329, 330 ; 
takes part in battle of Quinby 
bridge, 332, 340; mentioned, 364, 
380 ; Sumter leaves in command of 
his brigade, 415 ; Colonel Henderson 
supersedes, 415, 416 ; mentioned, 421, 
425 ; letter of, on condition of country, 
425 ; succeeds to command of Sum- 
ter's brigade at Eutaw, 453; his 
conduct thereat, 454, 457, 463; men- 
tioned, 465; in command of cavalry, 
attacks and defeats Loyalists at Dor- 



chester, 491 ; keeps open commmii- 
catiou between Sumter and Marion, 
493; mentioned, 514, 538, 549; mem- 
ber of Jacksonborough legislature, 
559; mentioned, 725, 730, 731. 

Hamptons, The, mentioned, 1, 562, 574. 

Hancock, Clement, murdered by 
"Bloody Bill" Cuningham, Hayes's 
Station, 475. 

Handy, Captain George, Lee's Legion, 
80. 

Hanging Rock, battle at, mentioned, 
53, 55, 57, 720, 735. 

Harden, Colonel William, mentioned, 
99; sketch of, 129; his raid into the 
lower part of the State, 127, 128; 
Hayne refuses to join him, 133; his 
letter to Marion on subject, 133, 134 ; 
captures British party at Four 
Holes, 134; Barton's post, 134; 
affair with Fenwick on Pocotaligo 
road, 134 ; takes Fort Balfour, 135 ; 
his successes, 136; writes again 
to Marion on subject of Hayne's 
position, 136; mentioned, 150, 223; 
his brilliant strokes, 251 ; his move- 
ments, 257, 258; Browne attacks him 
at Wiggins's Hill, 259, 260, 261, 263; 
at Horseshoe on Ashepoo, 318 ; men- 
tioned, 380; informs Greene of 
Hayne's execution, 399; keeping 
watch on Edisto, 4-34; mentioned, 
437 ; pressed by British, appeals to 
Marion for assistance, 438 ; Marion 
comes to his help, 439; mentioned, 
514 ; resigns because superseded by 
John Barnwell, 520, 529 ; mentioned, 
537, 544, 545; member of Jackson- 
borough legislature, 558, 559; men- 
tioned, 5i^4, 723, 726. 

Hardman, Major Henry (Md.), com- 
luands Maryland battalion at Eutaw, 
448. 

Hardy, Lieutenant Christopher, mur- 
dered by " Bloody Bill " Cuningham 
at Hayes's Station, 475. 

Harleston, Major Isaac, member of 
the Jacksonborough legislature, 558. 

Harleston, Colonel John, in Am- 
ercement Act, 587. 

Harper, Bohert Goodloe, mentioned, 
731. 



768 



INDEX 



Harris, Tliomas, in prison ship, 358; 
takes part in battle of Eutaw, 574. 

Harrison, Colonel (Tory), sent 

with Watson to crush Marion, 113; 
is ambuscaded at Wiboo Swamp, 
ibid. 

Harrison, Colonel Charles, of Vir- 
ginia, on march to join Greene, 188; 
on Court of Inquiry on Colonel 
Gunby, 198. 

Harrison, Governor Benjamin (Va.), 
receives from General Scott inter-, 
cepted letters of Forsyth, and with 
council informs General Greene of 
discovered conspiracy, 680, 682, G83. 

Hawes, Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel, 
of Virginia, at battle of Hobkirk's 
Hill, 101, 192, 194. 

Hayas, Colonel Joseph, captures Loy- 
alistsat Williams's plantation, 24, 25; 
massacred by " Bloody Bill ' ' Cuning- 
ham, 471, 474,475; mentioned, 514. 

Hayes's Station, massacre at, 473, 474, 
475; mentioned, 551. 

Hayne, Colonel Isaac, sketch of, 130; 
his case, 130, 131, 132; refuses to 
join Harden, 133, 150 ; takes the 
field, his dash to Charlestown, cap- 
ture of AVilliamson, is himself cap- 
tured, 318, 319, 320, 321; mentioned, 
364, 380; his case, trial, and execu- 
tion, 382-398; Greene's course in 
regard to it, 399, 402 ; its considera- 
tion in the House of Lords, England, 
402, 412 ; effect of his execution, 4;34 ; 
mentioned, 466, 544, 726. 

Heath, General, Washington leaves in 
command of New York, 437. 

Henderson, Colonel William, ex- 
changed and released, is put in 
command of Sumter's brigade, 416; 
Sumter's instructions to him, 416, 
417 ; Greene writes to him to disre- 
gard, 417, 418; Sumter's letter to, 
421 ; letter of, on condition of Sum- 
ter's brigade, 426; in command of 
same, 441 ; commands advance at 
Eutaw, his troops most exposed, 
451; is wounded, 452, 460, 461, 462; 
made brigadier-general, member of 
Jacksonborough legislature, 559 ; 
mentioned, 638, 653. 



Henry, Jacob, on prison ship, 358. 

Hervey, William H., on prison ship, 
359. 

Hessians, numbers of desert the Brit- 
ish army and remain in Charlestown 
on its evacuation, 675. 

Heyward, James, on prison ship, 
358. 

Heyward, Thomas, Sr., member of 
Jacksonborough legislature, 558. 

Heyward, Thomas, Jr. (signer of 
Declaration of Independence), as 
judge, sits in trial of case under 
Sumter's law, 1-U'>, 147 ; member of 
Jacksonborough legislature, 557. 

High Hills of Santee, description of, 
119; Sumter retires to, 119; ISIarion 
and Lee at, 206; Greene retires to, 
317; establishes at, 343; styled 
Camp of Repose, 413-423. 

Hill, Colonel William, mentioned, 1, 
424, 514; member of Jacksonborough 
legislature, 559; mentioned, 574, 717, 
731. 

Hillsboro, N. C, Greene arrives at, 9; 
Governor Rutledge at, 139; returns 
to, 509. 

Hobkirk's Hill, Battle of, 188, 197; 
Greene's want of horses at, 240 ; men- 
tioned, 546, 551, 553, 554, 724, 725. 

Holloway, Captain, Anderson's Regi- 
ment, killed in expedition against 
Cherokees, 626. 

Holmes, John B., on prison ship, 359. 

Holmes, William, on prison ship, 359. 

Holmes, Lieutenant, wounded at 
Eutaw, 461. 

Hood, John (Tory) , at Hayes's Station, 
473. 

Hood, Sir Samuel, arrives with fleet 
for evacuation of Charlestown, 657. 

Hornby, William, on prison ship, 358. 

Horner's Corner, affair at, 262; men- 
tioned, 538, 551. 

Horry, Colonel Daniel, name found in 
Amercement Act, 587. 

Horry, Colonel Hugh, Marion's bri- 
gade, 82; his recapture of Conti- 
nental prisoners the year before 
alluded to, 84; mentioned, 99; de- 
spatched to intercept McLeroth, 104 ; 
mentioned, 119; wounded at Eutaw, 



INDEX 



769 



4()1 ; mentioned, 514; member of 
Jacksonborough legislature, 558; 
mentioned, 574, 718. 

Horry, Colonel Peter, Marion's bri- 
gade, 82 ; his affair with Gainey, 8o, 
84; colonel of one of Marion's regi- 
ments, 99 ; takes part in ambuscade 
of Watson at Wiboo Swamp, 113; 
pursues Watson, 117; mentioned, 
119; his treaty with Gainey, 317, 
318; takes part in Sumter's expedi- 
tion to Low-Country, and battle of 
Quinby bridge, 322, 331, 342; his 
treaty with Gainey, mentioned, 466 ; 
ordered to join Marion, 484; men- 
tioned, 514; member of Jacksonbor- 
ough legislature, 558; mentioned, 
574 ; Maham's controversy with him 
as to rank and command, 595, 596, 
597, 598, 599, 600 ; takes position at 
Wambaw, 602; taken sick, retires 
to his plantation, leaving Colo- 
nel INIcDonald in command, 602; 
retires from the field, put in com- 
mand of Georgetown, 608; men- 
tioned, 718. 

Horseshoe, Harden establishes camp 
at, 318; Hayne joins him there, 
ibid. ; affair at, Hayne captured 
at, 319; mentioned, 551. 

Hort, William, Commissary, 617; 
Greene dissatisfied with, 617, 
618. 

Howard, Colonel Jolin Eager (Md.), 
detailed with Continental infantry 
to Morgan's command, 10; takes 
part in battle of Cowpenp, 47, 48; 
Congress presents him with medal, 
55; at battle of Hobkirk's Hill, 193; 
at battle of Eutaw, 448 ; wounded at 
Eutaw, 4(;0. 

Howarth, Colonel Probart, name not 
in Confiscation Act, 585. 

Howe, Lord, mentioned, 712. 

Howe, Sir William, mentioned, 97 ; 
through his influence Balfour at- 
tains his position, 382; mentioned, 
711, 712. 

Huck's Defeat, mentioned, 53, 559, 
717, 720, 737. 

Huger, Daniel, his abandonment of 
Gauge and taking protection referred 
VOL. IV. — 3d 



to, 508, 511 ; not named in Amerce- 
ment Act, 587. 
Huger, General Isaac, commands 
troops on march to Cheraw, 16; 
Greene leaves to conduct army 
across Cornwallis's front, 94, 95; 
forms junction with Greene and 
Morgan, 121; second in command 
at Hobkirk's Hill, 190, 191 ; on Court 
of Inquiry in case of Colonel Gunby, 
198; letter to Sumter, 311, 312; signs 
memorial to Greene, urging retalia- 
tion for execution of Colonel Hayne, 
400 ; absent from Eutaw, 459 ; mem- 
ber of the Jacksonborough legisla- 
ture, 557; mentioned, 721. 
Hughes, Thomas, on prison ship, 359. 
Hugon, Captain-Lieutenant (Md.), 

wounded at Eutaw, 4(i0. 
Huntington, Earl of, speech of, upon 
Colonel Hayne's case, in House of 
Lords, 402, 407. 

Hurd, Captain , Lee's Legion, 80. 

Hutchinson, Dr. Ja,mes, Commissioner 
of Pennsj'lvania for Carolinian ex- 
iles in Philadelpliia, old. 
Hutson, Richard, brother-in-law of 
Colonel Hayne, mentioned, 383; 
member of Governor's Council, 
611 ; member of the Jacksonbor- 
ough legislature, 557; elected lieu- 
tenant-governor, 571. 

Hutto, (Tory), captured and 

made to lead Butler and Watson, 
escapes, 627, 628. 
Hyrne, Major Edmund, Commissary 
of Prisoners, relieves Pickens of 
those taken at Cowpens, 92; bears 
letter from Greene to Sumter, 165; 
mentioned, 166; confers with Sum- 
ter and reports to Greene, l(i6, 167 ; 
Greene misunderstands, IGS ; sent 
by Greene to Sumter, 207, 208; his 
excellent management in execution 
of cartel for exchange of prisoners, 
362, 363 ; member of Jacksonborough 
legislature, 558. 
Impressments, legislature prohibits, 

616, 617. 
Innis (should be spelled Innes), Col- 
onel Alexander, name not in Confis- 
cation Act, 585. 



770 



INDEX 



Irty, Captain , Marion's brigade, 

100. 

Irby, Greaf, massacred at Hayes's 
Station, 475. 

Irby, Joseph, massacred at Hayes's 
Statiou, 475. 

Irby, Joseph, Jr., massacred at 
Hayes's iStation, 475. 

Irvine, Dr. Matthew, surgeon Lee's 
Legion, 80 ; bears letters from Lee 
to Greene suggesting movement into 
South Carolina after battle of Guil- 
ford Court-house, IGl, 219; carries 
summons to McPherson to surren- 
der Fort Motte, 234; at battle of 
Quinby bridge, 335. 

Irvine, Major , Royal militia, 

killed at Georgetown, 88. 

Izard, Kalph, envoy abroad, member 
of Jacksonborough legislature, 559; 
by Tory rumor be to be candidate 
for governor for aristocratic party, 
510, 511 ; elected to Congress, 572 ; 
again, 6S.">. 

Jackson, Major James (Ga.), joins 
Pickens, 2li2 ; body of troops raised 
by him destroyed by small-pox, 
414. 

Jacksonborough, Governor Rutledge 
determines to call General Assembly 
to meet at, 49G; army moves to 
cover, 501 ; description of, 560 ; As- 
sembly convenes at, 5()0, 561; acts 
passed by, 572, 573, 616. 

Jacoby, Daniel, on prison ship, 358. 

James, Major John, of Marion's bri- 
gade, 99; despatched to intercept 
McLeroth, 104; takes part in am- 
buscade of Watson, 113; in conflict 
with Watson at Mount Hope, 115, 
116; mentioned, 119; member of 
Jacksonborough legislature, 558, 
559; mentioned, 574; takes part in 
fight at Wambaw, 602, 603, 604; 
mentioned, 718. 

James, Kobert, mentioned, 639. 

Jarvis, Lieutenant, of Provost (Br.) , 
389. 

Jefferson, Governor Thomas, of Vir- 
ginia, mentioned, 80. 

Jenkins, Colonel Joseph, named in 
Amercement Act, 587. 



Johnson, 



a Whig, informs 



Marion of Lee's return, 172. 

Johnson, William, mentioned, 56; 
released from St. Augustine joins 
his family in Philadelphia, 378; 
member of the Jacksonborough legis- 
lature, 558. 

Johnson, Hon. William, Jr., the his- 
torian, sketch of, 50. 

Johnson, James, British commissioner 
to negotiate agreement to check 
plunder on both sides, 658, 659. 

Johnston, Captain Peter, lieutenant 
Lee's Legion, 80 ; letter upon subject 
of Lee's suggestion of movement 
into South Carolina after battle of 
Guilford Court-house, 161, 162, 219. 

Johnston, Captain , of Harden's 

corps intercepts enemy's boats on 
Savannah, 258, 259 ; with Harden at 
Wiggins's Hill, 259, 260. 

Jones, Captain, Royal militia, 626 ; sets 
fire to house of Colonel Kolb, 636. 

Jones, Lieutenant, killed at Quinby 
bridge, 338. 

Jordon, Lieutenant, Lee's Legion, 80. 

Jowitt, Lieutenant (Va.), wounded 
at Eutaw, 460. 

Julin, George, in Confiscation Act, 
585. 

Kean, John, on prison ship, 359. 

Kee, Captain Thomas, detached by 
Colonel Hammond to attack party 
of Tories at Horner's Corner, 262. 

Kellsal, Colonel, Royal militia, cap- 
tured by Harden, 135. 

Kemp, Lieutenant, King's Rangers. 

Kennon, Henry, on prison ship, 359. 

Kent Charles, on prison ship, 359. 

Kerr, Captain (Br.), mentioned, 20, 
150, 279 ; bears flag from Governor 
Tonyn of Florida, is arrested by 
Governor Guerard, controversy over 
same, 694, 695, 69(;, 697, 698. 

Kershaw, Eli, death of, mentioned, 
559. 

Kershaw, Joseph, member of Jack- 
sonborough legislature, 559. 

Kettle Creek, battle of, mentioned, 
oo 

King's Mountain, battle of, men- 
tioned, 19, 53, 55, 57, 553, 720, 736. 



INDEX 



771 



Kirkwood, Captain Robert (Del.), 
takes part in battle of Hobkirk's 
Hill; in battle at Eutaw, 44<i, 
454. 

Knyphausen, Lieutenant - General 
(Br.), mentioned, 714, 715. 

Kolb, Colonel Abel, of Marion's bri- 
gade complains of Major Snipes, 147, 
514; liis house burned, and himself 
killed by Tories, 638, 639. 

Kosciuszko, Count, recommends posi- 
tion at Cheraw, 15 ; serves as engi- 
neer at Ninety Six, 281, 282 ; selects 
position for army at Round O, 492 ; 
succeeds Laurens in confidential ser- 
vices, 662 ; expedition to James 
Island, recaptures horses, ibid. 

Lacey, Colonel Edward, mentioned, 
1, 54, 149, 229, 295; in Sumter's 
expedition to Low-Countiy, 322; at 
battle of Quinby bridge, 331-340; 
mentioned, 424, 514; member of 
Jacksonborough legislature, 559, 
562; mentioned, 717, 731. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, Washington 
directed to join the Southern army, 
414 ; his movements in Virginia, 436, 
437 ; Greene writes to of his victory 
at Eutaw, 465. 

Lamb, Ensign, North Carolina, 
wounded at Eutaw, 460. 

Laurens, Henry, just released from 
the Tower, elected member of the 
Jacksonborough legislature, 537 ; ex- 
changed for Lord Cornwallis and 
engaged negotiating treaty of peace, 
636, 637 ; sketch of, 646 ; member of 
Congress, 685. 

Laurens, John, mentioned, 22 ; returns 
to South Carolina, 490; how em- 
ployed during his absence, 496, 497 ; 
detachment placed under his com- 
mand, 497; commands expedition 
against John's Island, 502, 503, 504, 
505, 506 ; elected member of the 
Jacksonborough legislature, 557 ; 
mentioned, 594; his command, 638; 
leaves post at Wappoo to take part 
in defence of Combahee, is killed, 
641, 642, 643, 644, 645; sketch of, 
646, ()47, 648, 649. 

Lawson's Legion of Virginia proposed 



to be sent to South Carolina, but dis- 
charged, 81. 

Lechmere, Colonel Nicholas, captured 
by Harden, 135. 

Lee, Major Henry, ordered to join 
Greene, 7; promoted lieutenant- 
colonel, 8 ; begins his march to South 
Carolina, 79; account of his corps, 
79, 80; mentioned, 82; arrives at 
Greene's camp, ordered to join 
Marion, 85; with Marion attempts 
Georgetown, 86, 87, 88; moves 
against Watson at Nelson's Ferry, 
89; mentioned, 93; recalled by 
Greene, 94; mentioned, 98; put 
under command of Pickens, 122, 123 ; 
his part m Pyle's defeat, 123, 124; 
question as to his suggestion of 
movement into South Caroluia by 
Greene, discussed, 160, 161, 162; 
Greene's letter to as to Sumter's 
forces, 167, 168; returns to South 
Carolina and joins Marion, 170, 171; 
ordered to cooperate with Marion on 
British posts, 171 ; their movements, 
171, 172; investment and capture of 
Fort Watson, 172, 173, 174, 175 ; ques- 
tion as to Marion's command of, 176, 
177; mentioned, 183; estimate of 
American force before Camden, 186 ; 
mentioned, 190; Greene summons 
to join him, 204; hastens to do 
so, but order countermanded, 205, 
206; rejoins Marion, proceeds with 
him to Black River, 206; mentioned, 
225; entitled to credit of Greene's 
movement into South Carolina, 226; 
but not to operation on enemy's 
commimications, ibid.; brilliant suc- 
cesses of, 228, 229; with Marion in- 
vests Fort Motte, 230, 231, 232, 233, 
234; captures fort, 235; attacks Fort 
Granby and takes it, 236, 237, 238, 
239 ; want of horses, 240 ; mentioned, 
251, 263; despatched by Greene to 
Ninety Six, 264; proceeds from 
Ninety Six to Augusta, 265; joins 
Clarke and Pickens at Augusta, 266 ; 
his relation with Pickens, 267 ; takes 
part in siege of Augusta, 208, 269, 
270, 271, 272 ; at siege of Ninety Six, 
281, 290, 292, 299, 300; mentioned, 



772 



INDEX 



304 ; Greene sends him to watch 
Rawdon, 307, 308, 309; does not join 
Washington, 310 ; summoned to join 
Greene, 313 ; takes part in Sumter's 
expedition to Low-Country, 323 ; his 
relation to Sumter, 323, 324; takes 
Dorchester, 327; raids to Quarter 
House, 329; joins Sumter, 330; at 
battle of Quinby bridge, 335, 336, 
337, 338, 339,340, 341, 342 ; mentioned, 
413 ; letter to Greene complain mg of 
Sumter, 428, 429; mentioned, 431, 
432, 433 ; to cooperate with Hender- 
son, 434; pushed forward to watch 
Stuart's movements, 438 ; his legion 
in advance at Eutaw, 446, 448 ; takes 
part in that battle, 452, 453, 456, 459 ; 
detached by Greene, 464 ; mentioned, 
497; commands detachment iu ex- 
pedition against John's Island, 502, 
503, 504, 505, 506 ; undertakes to im- 
press indigo, Greene forbids it, 520 ; 
cabal with Greene against Sumter, 
correspondence, 530, 531, 532, ,533; 
mentioned, 536, 545, 546, 547, 574; 
taking offence at Laurens's com- 
mand, retires from the field, 594, 
619, 620; mentioned, 724, 725, 726, 
727, 728, 736. 

Lee, "Mr. Lee's plan" (General 
Charles Lee), mentioned, 712. 

Lee, Stephen, on prison ship, 359. 

Lee"s Legion, organization of, 79, 80; 
reorganization of, officers of, resign 
in body, 620. 

Legare, Samuel, imprisoned in prov- 
ost, 3(>9. 

Legare, Thomas, on prison ship, 358. 

Leigh, Sir Egerton, his conduct in 
Colonel Hayne's case, 395, 396. 

Leonard, Captain, killed by " Bloody 
Bill " Cuniugham at Hayes's Station, 
475. 

Lesesue, John, on prison ship, .358. 

Leslie, Major-General Alexander 
(Br.) , Coniwallis sends for, to reen- 
force him in South Carolina, 9; ar- 
rives at Charlestown, 17 ; advances to 
join Coruwallis, 26 ; crosses Catawba, 
and joins Coruwallis, 29; mentioned, 
81, 90; relieves Stuart of com- 
mand of Charlestown, 492; men- 



tioned, 495; distressed for supplies, 
seuds out raiding parties, 589, 590; 
addresses General Greene on sub- 
ject of Confi.scation Acts, 632; 
Greene refers him to Governor 
Mathews, 633 ; proposes cessation of 
hostilities and leave to obtain sup- 
plies, which is refused, 637 ; prepares 
foraging expedition to obtain sup- 
plies, 640, 652; mentioned, 657; en- 
ters into agreement with Governor 
Mathews for securing property on 
both sides, 658, 659; prepares for 
evacuation of Charlestown, 670, 671 ; 
conducts same, 672, 673. 

Lewis, Captain (Tory), shot, 84. 

Lewis, Ksv. John, exiled to St. Augus- 
thie, prohibited from performing 
service, 372. 

Libby, Nathaniel, on prison ship, 
358. 

Lincoln, General Benjamin, Secre- 
tary of War, Greeue writes to, 696 ; 
mentioned, 716. 

Listor, Thomas, on prison ship, 358. 

Lloyd, John, member privy council, 
572. 

Lockhart, Samuel, in prison ship, 358; 
joins iu reply to Balfour's announce- 
ment of holding prisoners as host- 
ages, 360. 

Lovell, Lieutenant , Lee's Legion, 

80. 

Lowndes, Rawlins, mentioned, 587. 

Lunsford, Lieutenant , Lee's Le- 
gion, SO. 

Lush, Adjutant, killed at Eutaw, 461. 

Lushington, Colonel Richard, com- 
mands post at Georgetown, 677; 
gi'ants flag to John Banks, ibid. 

Luzonne, Chevalier de la, approves 
plan of cooperation of French fleet 
to recover Charlestown, 481. 

Lybert, Henry, on prison ship, 358. 

Lyles, Colonel James, member of the 
Jacksonborough legislature, 559. 

Lsmch's Creek, affair at, 110, 111; 
mentioned, 551. 

Lynch, Thomas, Jr., plantation of, 
raided by British, 641. 

Lynn, Lieutenant (Md.), wounded at 
Eutaw, 460. 



INDEX 



773 



McArthur, Major Archibald, 71st 
Regiment (Br.), commands garrison 
at Nelson's Ferry, 17 ; surrenders 
to Pickens at Cowpens, 50; men- 
tioned, 52, 78; reeuforces Rawdon, 
209, 252 ; posted at Fair Lawn, 435 ; 
Stuart calls Lim up, 464. 

McBee, Captain, Sumter sends letter 
by to Greene, 158, 181. 

McCall, Lieutenant-Colonel James, 
mentioned, 1; his family ill treated 
by Dunlap, 20; sent to invite the 
cooperation of Pickens, 21 ; takes 
part in capture of Loyalists at Ham- 
mond's Store, 23; his party at battle 
of Cowpeus, 31, 32; takes part in 
battle, 30, 40, 42; captures picket, 
121, 122; with Clarke attacks and 
defeats Dunlap at Beattie's Mill, 127, 
128; mentioned, 223, 229; his death, 
258; mentioned, 279, 736. 

McCauley, Captain James, Marion's 
brigade, 82, 100; takes part in am- 
buscade of Watson, 113; at battle 
of Quiuby bridge, 335; member of 
Jacksoiiborough legislature, 558. 

McCottry, Captain William, Marion's 
brigade, 82, 99; in conflict with 
Watson at Mount Hope, 115, 116; 
takes part in an attack upon Doyle, 
118; member of Jacksonborough 
legislature, 558; mentioned, 574, 
718. 

McDonald, Colonel Adam, of Marion's 
brigade, 99, 514 ; left in command of 
Marion's brigade is attacked by 
Colonel Thompson at Wambaw and 
defeated, 602, 603. 

McDonald, Charles, on prison ship, 
358. 

McDowell, Major Charles (N.C.), his 
command at Cowpens, 31, 32, 34, 38, 
42, 44; mentioned, 553. 

McDowell, Sergeant James, pursues 
and bayonets Gainey, 84, 85; men- 
tioned, 446. 

McDowells, Mr., mentioned, 1. 

McGurrie, Lieutenant, wounded and 
taken prisoner at Eutaw, 401. 

Mcintosh, General Lachlan, com- 
plains of conduct of fellow prisoners, 
345. 



McJunkin, Samuel, member of Jack- 
sonborough legislature, 559. 

McJunkin, Joseph, mentioned, 599. 

McKay, Lieutenant James (Br.), de- 
fence of Fort Watson, 173, 174, 175. 

McKenzie, Major, president of court 
on Colonel Hayue, 390. 

McKinnon, Captain (Br.), remon- 
strates against Browne's cruelties, 
261. 

McKoy, Captain, of Harden's corps, 
intercepts enemy boats on Savannah, 
258; takes position at Mathews's 
Bluff, repulses party sent by Browne 
to dislodge him, 259; with Harden 
at Wiggins's Hill, 259; returns to the 
Savannah, 262. 

McKoy, Rannal, hung by Brovme, 261, 
2()2 ; mentioned, 273. 

McKoy, Mrs., mother of Rannal, at- 
tempts to save her son, 261 ; her 
address to Browne, 270. 

McLaughlan, Lieutenant-Colonel, 
takes the field with Hayne, 319; is 
killed, 320. 

McLaughlan, Captain, is wounded, 
319, 320. 

McLeroth, Lieutenant-Colonel (Br.), 
as.sailed by Marion, 101; accepts 
proposition of Marion for combat 
by picked men, 103, 104; his charac- 
ter, ibid.; escapes Marion, 104; men- 
tioned, 226, 251, 537, 538, 540, 
723. 

McLure, Captain John, mentioned, 
717. 

McNeill, Hector (Tory), organizes 
force in North Carolina, 85; cap- 
tures Governor Burke and coimcil, 
465, 466. 

McPherson, Lieutenant (Br.), gallant 
conduct in defence of Fort Motte, 
232, 233, 234, 235. 

McRea, Mary, abducted by Major 
Dunlap, dies, 19, 20. 

Maham, Colonel Hezekiah, of Marion's 
brigade, 99; device of tower for 
capture of Fort Watson, 174, 175; 
takes part in Sumter expedition to 
Low-Country and battle of Quinby's 
bridge, 322, 327, 331, 334, 335, 340, 
342; Washington ordered to co- 



774 



INDEX 



operate with, 434; watches Fair 
Law^l, 4.'>5, 437; ordered to join 
Marion, 484 ; at affair at Fair Lawn, 
488, 489 ; mentioned, 514 ; part of his 
newly raised horse with Richardson 
defeated by Coffin, 590, 591; at- 
tempts to raise a legion for conti- 
nental service, 595; controversy 
with Peter Horry as to rank grow- 
ing out of same, 595, 59(i, 597, 598, 
599, 600 ; detained at Jacksonborough 
as member of Assembly, attempts to 
return to his command, but too late, 
his command is attacked and dis- 
persed in his absence, (JOl, 002, 603; 
disastrous result of controversy with 
Horiy, 006; appointed to command 
a new regiment, 008; captured, and 
his career ended, 009; mentioned, 
638 ; his command consolidated with 
that of Conyers, 640. 

Maham tower, device of, at Fort 
Watson, 174, 175; used at siege of 
Augusta, 270, 271 ; and at Ninety 
Six, 293, 294. 

Majoribanks, Major (Br.), (pro- 
nounced Marshbauks), at Eutaw, 
444_ 449^ 452, 453, 454, 456, 457; 
fatally wounded, 459; his death, 
459; mentioned, 463. 

Malmedy, Colonel Francis, Mar- 
quis de France, Greene despatches 
to North Carolina for assistance, 
433; commands militia of North 
Carolina at Eutaw, 446 ; his position 
in line, 448. 

Manchester, Duke of, speech of, in 
House of Lords, on Colonel Hayne's 
case, 404. 

Manning, Lieutenant Laurence, Lee's 
Legion, 80; v\'ounded at Eutaw, 461. 

Manson, sets fire to Georgetown, 318. 

Marietta, Abraham, on prison ship, 
359. 

Marion, General Francis, mentioned, 
1 ; engaged in active movements, 17 ; 
informs Greene of Leslie's arrival 
and march for Camden, 18; men- 
tioned, 36, 56 ; his raids against Brit- 
ish communication, 77, 78; Greene's 
letter to him, 78; his commission as 
brigadier-general, 82; appoints his 



staff, ibid.; receives intelligence of 
Tory organization under Hector 
McNeill, North Carolina, 85; Lee 
ordered to join him, 85 ; Lee reaches 
his camp, 86; attempt ui>on George- 
town, 86, 87, 88; with Lee moves 
against Watson at Nelson's Ferry; 
despatches Postell across Santee to 
Monck's Corner, 99; assails McLe- 
roth at Halfway Swamp, 100; pro- 
posed combat by picked men, 102, 
103; McLeroth escapes him, 104; 
Watson sent to crush him. 111; am- 
buscades Watson at Wiboo, 113; 
conflict with Watson at Mount Hope, 
115,116; at Witherpoon's, 116; pur- 
sues Watson who abandons the field, 
117; attacks Doyle, defeats and 
pursues him, 118; determines to re- 
treat to North Carolina, 119 ; learns 
of Lee's return to South Carolina, 
120; mentioned, 137; Governor Rut- 
ledge writes him, has put Sumter in 
command of all militia, 140 ; Sumter 
appeals to him for conference, 140, 
141; mentioned, 150; his action upon 
British seizure of Postell under his 
flag, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155; men- 
tioned, 160; Greene sends letter in- 
forming him of movement into 
South Carolina, 163; mentioned, 
169; joined by Lee, 170, 171; or- 
dered to cooperate with Lee on Brit- 
ish posts, ibid. ; their movements, 
171 ; Marion proposes attack upon 
Fort Watson, Lee advises against 
it, 171, 172; his corps reduced, 173; 
investment and capture of Fort 
Watson, 173, 174, 175; question as 
to his command of Lee, 176, 177 ; 
Greene's praise of, 177, 178; luke- 
warm report of, to Washington and 
Reed, in regard to, 178, 179, 180, 
181; Greene's disparagement of, 
in letter to Reed, 202; Greeiie 
congratulates on capture of Fort 
Watson and summonses to join 
him, 204; order countermanded, 
moves to High Hills of Santee, 206; 
with Lee proceeds to Black River, 
ibid. ; Greene complains to Sumter 
about his taking horses, 210; Wat- 



INDEX 



775 



son eludes, 213, 214, 215 ; mentioned, 
223, 225, 226, 227, 228; brilliant suc- 
cesses of, 229 ; with Lee invests Fort 
Motte, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235; 
captures fort, 235; mentioued, 239; 
Greene's calls on him for horses, 
240, 241 ; Lee complains to Greene 
on subject, which results in Marion's 
tender of resignation, 241; resigna- 
tion not accepted, 242; moves to 
Monck's Corner, ibid.; mentioned, 
251, 263; Greene calls upon to join 
him, 286; marches to Georgetown, 
286; reports to Sumter arrival at 
Charlestown of reeuforcements, 287, 
288, 289 ; Greene sends order to, 290 ; 
mentioned, 294, 298, 304 ; prepares 
for expedition to Low-Country, 307; 
joins Washington, 312; summoned 
to join Greene, 313 ; his treaty with 
Gainey, 317, 318 ; takes part in 
Sumter expedition to Low-Country 
and battle of Quinby bridge, 322, 
343; approves Grimke's plan for 
release of prisoners, 256; mentioued, 
380 ; Greene informs him of Hayne's 
execution, 399; mentioned, 413, 415, 
420, 421, 431, 432; Colonel Washing- 
ton ordered to cooperate with, 434; 
watches Fair Lawn, 435, 437 ; Harden 
appeals to for assistance, 438; pro- 
ceeds to Hardeu's assistance, 439; 
receives thanks of Congress, 440 ; re- 
turns to Greene, 441 ; takes part in 
battle of Eutaw, 446, 448, 450, 451, 
459; detached by Greene, 464; re- 
turns, 465; mentioned, 466, 483; 
Shelby and Sevier ordered to join, 
484; cheeked in his advance, 485; 
charged with guarding left of army, 
486 ; affair at Fair Lawn, 487, 488, 489 ; 
Stuart's insolent communication to, 
489; takes part at Wadboo, 493; 
Wade Hampton keeps communica- 
tion between him and Sumter, ibid. ; 
brigade reorganized by Governor 
Rutledge, 514; mentioned, 520, 530, 
536, 537, 538, 545, 547, 553, 554 ; mem- 
ber of the Jacksonborough legisla- 
ture, 557 ; his course therein in regard 
to General Greene, 167, 168 ; House 
commends, 569 ; mentioned, 574, 575 ; 



position in regard to Confiscation 
Acts, 582, 583; retires to Wambaw, 
593 ; attends Jacksonborough assem- 
bly, leaves Peter Horry in command 
of his brigade, 595; correspondence 
with Greene, Maham, and Horry, 
upon Maham's claim to rank and 
command Horry, 596, 697, 598, 599, 
600; learns of Thompson's expedi- 
tions against his brigade, but de- 
tained at Jacksonborough about 
Confiscation Act, 601; at length sets 
out with Maham for his command, 
but too late, brigade surprised and 
dispersed, ()02, 603, 604; disastrous 
result of his detention at Jackson- 
borough, 606; rallies his men again 
around him, 606 ; Laurens ordered 
to his support, 606; retires beyond 
Santee, (107; recrosses, 637; moves 
against Tories, who again rise imder 
Gainey, 638; affair *'ith them, 639; 
makes new treaty, 639 ; makes great 
march to Georgetown, 640; takes 
post at Wadboo, 641 ; affair at Fays- 
soux's, 649, 650, 651 ; his warfare 
ends, 651; mentioned, 718, 724, 727, 
728, 730, 733, 738. 

Marritt, or Merritt, James, seized by 
Marion in retaliation for seizure of 
Postell, 154, 155. 

Martin, Captain N., wounded at Eu- 
taw, 461. 

Mathews's Bluff, affair at, 259. 

Mathews, John, General Greene ap- 
pointed Commander Southern De- 
partment at instance of, 6; men- 
tioned, 495 ; member of Jackson- 
borough legislature, 657; elected 
governor, 572 ; authorizes truce 
with Tories, 627 ; General Leslie 
addresses him on subject of Con- 
fiscation Act, 633 ; his reply thereto, 
633, 6.34, 635 ; allows Pickens to pro- 
ceed against Cherokees in Georgia, 
654; grants permission to British 
merchants to remain in Charlestown 
after evacuation, 6.57, 658 ; enters in- 
to agreement with General Leslie to 
secure property on both sides, 658, 
659, 660 ; agreement evaded by 
Leslie is put an end to, 561 ; enters 



776 



INDEX 



Charlestown on its evacuation, 672, 
673. 

Maxwell, Major (Br.), surrenders 
Fort Grauby to Lee, 237, 238, 239; 
mentioned, 265, 737. 

Maxwell, Captain, of company in ex- 
pedition against Indians, 655. 

Maybank, Colonel, mentioned, 514. 

Mayson, Major, mentioned, 468. 

Meade, George, Commissioner of 
Pennsylvania for Carolinian exiles 
in Philadelphia, 379, 380. 

Melton, Captain John, Marion's bri- 
gade, takes part in affair at Cypress 
Swamp, 440. 

Merchants, British, allowed permis- 
sion to remain in Charlestown after 
evacuation, 657, 658. 

Meyer, Philip, on prison ship, 359. 

Michael, John, on prison ship, 358. 

Middleton, Arthur (signer of Declara- 
tion of ludepftidence), senator from 
St. Philip's and St. Michael's, 557; 
elected delegate to Congress, 572. 

Middleton, Henry, mentioned, 587. 

Middleton, Hugh, attacked and de- 
feated by Hezekiah Williams, 476; 
member of Jacksonborough legisla- 
ture, 559. 

Middleton, Lieutenant John, Lee's 
Legion, 80; volunteers upon special 
service, 623. 

Middleton Place, army at, 669. 

Milbin, John, killed by " Bloody Bill " 
Cuningham at Hayes's Station, 
475. 

Militia, none in South Carolina, be- 
cause no government in existence, 
place supplied by partisans, 137, 138, 
139; Governor Rutledge's efforts 
to reorganize, 139, 140, 141 ; Sum- 
ter's letters to Marion on subject, 
142, 143; Hampton's letter on same, 
144; "Sumter's law" on same, 145, 
146, 147, 148; Greene's misconcep- 
tion in regard thereto, 170. 

Miller, Samuel, on prison ship, 359. 

Miller, Lieutenant, of Virginia, 
wounded at Eutaw, 460. 

Milner, Solomon, on prison ship, 359. 

Milvin, John, killed at Hayes's Sta- 
tion, 475. 



Minott, John, Sr., on prison ship, 359. 

Minott, John, Jr., on prison ship, 359. 

Mitchell, Captain Thomas, member 
of Jacksonborough legislature, 558. 

Mobley (Tory) Settlement, Sumter 
raids, 207. 

Monck, George, on prison ship, 359. 

Monck's Corner, Postell sent by Mar- 
ion to, 100, 101 ; Rawdon falls back 
to, 250; remains at, 285, 302; Colo- 
nel Coates (Br.), sent with regiment 
to, 325; Sumter advances upon, 
327 ; Coates crosses from to Biggin 
Church, 331 ; Rawdon moves below, 
341 ; affair at, mentioned, 551. 

Moncrief , Colonel (Br.) , on evacu- 
ation carries off negroes, 661, 674. 

Moncrief, John, on prison ship, 358. 

Montagu, Lord Charles Greville, ar- 
rives in Charlestown, 350 ; attempts 
to seduce prisoners from their alle- 
giance, 350 ; his correspondence with 
Moultrie, 352, 353. 

Montgomery, Colonel, mentioned, 
704. 

Moore, Lieutenant, of Maryland, 
wounded, 667. 

Moore, Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen, 
on prison ship, 360 ; joins in reply to 
Balfour's announcement of holding 
prisoners as hostages, 360. 

Moore, Captain, imprisoned in prov- 
ost, 369; Avounded at Eutaw, 461. 

Moore, Major, defeated by General 
Cuningliam, 485. 

Moore, Ensign (Md.), wounded at Eu- 
taw, 460. 

Moore, Ensign (N. C), wounded at 
Eutaw, 460. 

Moore's Surprise, 485; mentioned, 
551. 

Morris, Major Lewis, Jr., aide-de- 
camp to General Greene, 8. 

Morris, Eobert, financial agent of 
Congress, his plan, 518; Governor 
Rutledge recommends it, 519, 520; 
mentioned, 678, 680, 683; letter of 
Greene to, 690. 

Morgan, General Daniel, arrives at 
Hillsboro, Gates organizes inde- 
pendent corps for his command, 
10, 11 ; promoted brigadier-general, 



INDEX 



777 



r 



11 ; despatched to threaten Corn- 
wallis at Winnsboro, given com- 
mand west of the Catawba, 16; 
crosses the Catawba, takes part at 
Grindall's Shoals. 23, 26, 27; out- 
manoeuvred by Tarleton, abandons 
Grindall's Shoals, 30 ; fights and wins 
the battle of Cowpeus, 33, 51 ; Con- 
gress presents him with medal, 55; 
clash of authority with Sumter, 57, 
58; mentioned, 65; Greene's letters 
to him, 66; his complaint against 
Sumter, 66, 67 ; same considered, 68, 
69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77; men- 
tioned, 90; his march from Cowpens 
to Gilbertown, 91; Greene goes to 
consult, 94; mentioned, 95; retii-es 
from the field, 120; mentioned, 279, 
324, 541, 550, 721, 722. 

Morgan, Captain Simeon (Va.), at 
battle of Hobkirk's Hill, 191; 
wounded at Eutaw, 460. 

Mosse, George, on prison ship, 359. 

Motte, Colonel Isaac, member Jack- 
sonborough legislature, senator 
from St. Philip's and St. Michael's, 
557. 

Motte, Jacob, mentioned, 233. 

Motte, Rebecca, her patriotic conduct 
at siege of Fort Motte, furtiishes 
arrows to burn her house, 233, 234. 

Motte, Fort (Br. post), mentioned, 
220; investment and capture of, 231, 
232, 233, 2.34, 2.35, 239; mentioned, 
5.51, 724. 

Moultrie, John, Lieutenant-Governor 
of East Florida, his conduct to 
exiles, .372. 

Moultrie, General William, quartered 
as prisoner at Snee Farm, 345; 
correspondence with Cornwallis and 
Balfour in regard to treatment of 
prisoners, 346, 347, 348; Balfour's 
proposition to his son, 351; Mon- 
tagu's letter to him, 352; his reply, 
352, 353, 354; correspondence with 
Balfour on .subject of arrest of 
Grimke and Hal3ersham, .355, 356; 
learns of cartel for exchange of 
prisoners, 356; mentioned, 557; 
member of Jacksonl)orongh legis- 
lature, 557; correspondence with 



Charles Pinckney mentioned, 587; 
exchanged for General Burgoyne, 
668; his account of his journey 
home and to the army, 668, 669; 
enters city on its evacuation, 673; 
his account of same, 673, 674; on 
committee in regard to impress- 
ments, 687. 

Moultrie, Fort, victory of, mentioned, 
711, 735. 

Moultrie, Mr., Balfour attempts to 
approach General Moultrie, his 
father, through him, 355. 

Mount Hope, affair at, 115; men- 
tioned, 171, 537, 538, 651, 723. 

Mud Lick, affair at, 115; mentioned, 
538, 551. 

Musgrove Mill, Battle of, mentioned, 
53, 57. 

Mutiny, Pennsylvannia Line, 619, 
620, 621,622,623. 

Mydelton, Colonel Charles S., men- 
tioned, 229; m command of Sumter's 
brigade at McCord's Ferry, 294; 
reports advance of British, 295 ; 
attacks Rawdon's rear, is ambus- 
caded by Coffin and defeated, 298; 
mentioned, 310; in Sumter's expe- 
dition to the Low-Country, 322, 340 ; 
mentioned, 425 ; at battle of Eutaw, 
452; wounded, 461; (name in list 
misspelled, Middleton) mentioned, 
514; his ambuscade mentioned, 551. 

Nash, Abner, Governor of North 
Carolina, mentioned, 9. 

Neel, Colonel Andrew, mentioned, 
717. 

Neil, John, murdered at Hayes's Sta- 
tion, 475. 

Nelson's Ferry, post established at, 
18; Marion's movements against, 
99, 100, 101 ; Balfour meets Rawdon 
at, 249; Rawdon crosses, 252; 
affair at, mentioned, 720, 724. 

Neufville, John, released from St. 
Augustine, chief of party on voyage 
to Philadelphia, 377; member of 
the Jacksonborough legislature, 
357. 

Neufville, John, Jr., on prison ship, 
.359. 

Neufville, William, on prison ship, 359. 



T78 



INDEX 



Newmarsh, Major (Br.), mentioned, 
52. 

Newton, Downham, captain of vessels, 
bearing exiles to Philadelphia, rec- 
ognized by Johnson, 378. 

Neyle, Philip, death of, alluded to, 
plantation of, raided by British, 641. 

Ninety Six, men of, urged to re- 
sume arms, 18; mentioned, 22, 24; 
Morgan threatens, 26, 27; men- 
tioned, 32 ; men of, under Pickens, 
34; Pickens at, 129, 130, 149; men- 
tioned, 170, 185, 254,255; despatches 
to Cruger to abandon, intercepted, 
256; Greene determines to move 
against, 256, 257; mentioned, 263; 
siege of, 278-300; mentioned, 307, 
551, 734. 

Ogier, Lewis, Marion's staff, 82. 

Oglethorpe, mentioned, 704. 

Oldfield, Ja-mes, Greene camps on his 
plantation, 343. 

Oldfield, Captain, Royal militia, nego- 
tiates truce on part of Tories, 626, 
627. 

Oldham, Captain (Va.) , killed at Eu- 
taw, 460. 

Oliphant, Dr. David, surgeon-general, 
member of the Jacksonborough 
legislature, 557. 

O'Neill (or O'Neale), Ferdinand, 
Lee's Legion, SO; at battle of Quin- 
by bridge, 335 ; volunteers to watch 
movement of enemy, 623; is at- 
tacked at Dorchester and defeated, 
623, 624. 

Orangeburgh (Br. post), fall of, 229, 
230, 239; mentioned, 537, 538, 551, 
724. 

Owen, John, on prison ship, 359. 

Owen, Captain, killed by " Bloody 
Bill " Cuningham at Hayes's Sta- 
tion, 475. 

Owens, domestic servant, Greene's 
headquarters, tried for mutiny, 623. 

Palmer, Job, on prison ship, 359. 

Parker, Sir Peter, mentioned, 711. 

Parker, William, commissioner of 
the treasury, 572. 

Parker's Ferry, affair at, 439. 

Partisan Bands, supply place of mili- 
tia, 137, 138, 139, 170; absent on 



the reoccupation of Gharlestown on 
its evacuation, 674. 

Patterson, General, his assurance to 
Colonel Hayne, 132; commandant 
of Gharlestown, 367. 

Peace, approach of, 635, 636. 

Pearis, Captain Richard (Tory), men- 
tioned, 549. 

Pegee (Pegue ?), Captain, wounded 
at Eutaw, 461. 

Pegues, Claudius, cartel for general 
exchange of prisoners executed at 
his house, 356. 

Pendleton, Judge Henry, presides as 
judge in case under Sumter's law, 
146, 147 ; a prisoner escapes, 345 ; his 
caae, 346. 

Pendleton, Nathaniel, aide-de-camp 
to General Greene, 8; recoimoitres 
position at Ninety Six, 282. 

Pennsylvania Line, arrival of, 593; 
mutiny in, 620, 621, 622, 623. 

Peronneau, Henry, Loyalist, men- 
tioned, 387. 

Peronneau, Mrs., wife of Henry, her 
interview with Rawdon appealing 
for Colonel Hayne, 387; her appeal 

. to him, 393, 394, 395. 

Perry, Captain, killed at Quinby 
bridge, 338. 

Peters, domestic servant Greene's 
headquarters, tried for mutiny, 623. 

Philips, General (Br.), takes the 
place of Leslie in Virginia, 93. 

Philips, Lieutenant-Colonel John 
(Tory), not named in Confiscation 
Act, 586. 

Pickens, Andrew, his honorable con- 
duct in regard to his parole, 18 ; his 
plantation plundered, regards him- 
self released therefrom, 19, 20; 
takes the field, 21; assumes com- 
mand, 21; great accession to the 
American cause, 22, 23; joins Mor- 
gan, ibid.; strength of his party, 32; 
takes part in battle of CowiJens, 38, 
39, 40, 42, 45 ; receives the sword of 
Major McArthur, 50 ; Congress pre- 
sents him with a sword, 55 ; Morgan 
leaves him in charge of prisoners, 91 ; 
his movements, 91, 92 ; Greene rides 
to consult, 94; joins Greene, 120; 



INDEX 



7T9 



appointed brigadier-general, com- 
mands Nortli Carolina Whigs, 121 ; 
detaches McCall to attack British 
• picket, 121 ; Greene visits his camp, 
122; Lee put under his command, 
duty assigned him, 123; attacks and 
cuts to pieces Pyle's party, 123, 124, 
125; ordered to repair to western 
part of South Carolina, 12(J ; his affair 
at Dutchman's Creek, 126, 127 ; 
jouied by Colonel Clarke, detaches 
Clarke and McCall to attack Dun- 
lap, 127; mentioned, 137, 160, 164, 
165, 169, 182; Sumter reports had 
joined him, but without men, 185; 
mentioned, 202, 223, 226, 229, 258; 
engaged since his return from North 
Carolina rousing his people, 262 ; 
manoeuvring between Augusta and 
Ninety Six, 263; joins Clarke at 
Augusta, 266 ; his relations with Lee, 
267 ; command at siege of Augusta, 
269, 270, 271, 272, 273; his report and 
action upon murder of Griersou, 
274, 275; mentioned, 286; Greene 
appeals to, to join him, 286; joins 
Greene at Ninety Six, 296; men- 
tioned, 364; takes command of all 
state troojis, 438 ; at Eutaw in com- 
mand of all South Carolina troops, 
441, 446, 451; mentioned, 459; 
woimded, 461, 462; despaVchtd to 
put doTvn Indians, 484; men- 
tioned, 510; brigade reorganized 
by Governor Rutledge, 514; men- 
tioned, 547; member of Jackson- 
borough legislature, 559, 562 ; House 
commends his conduct, 569 ; marches 
against Cherokees, 624, 625; ad- 
vances to Quarter House, 652, 653 ; 
conducts a last expedition against 
Cherokees, 653, 654, 655; makes 
treaty Mith them, 655, 656; men- 
tioned, 725, 728, 733, 736, 738. 

Pierce, William, Jr., aide-de-camp to 
General Greene, 8; writes to Sum- 
ter, 207. 

Pinckney, Colonel Charles, men- 
tioned, 345 ; his abandonment of 
cause and taking protection referred 
to, 508-511 ; named in Amercement 
Act, 587. 



Pinckney, Charles, Jr., on prison ship, 
359; joins in reply to Balfour's 
announcement of holding prisoners 
as hostages, 360. 

Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth, quar- 
tered as prisoner at Snee Farm, 
345 ; efforts made to seduce from 
his allegiance, 354 ; member of Jack- 
sonborough legislature, 557; his opin- 
ion on doctrine of postliminium as 
applied to horses recaptixred , 666, 667. 

Pinckney, Mayor Thomas, mentioned, 
233 ; efforts made to seduce from his 
allegiance, 354 ; member of Jackson- 
borough legislature, 557. 

Plummer, Major Daniel (Tory), not 
named in Contiscatiou Act, 586. 

Pocotaligo, affair at, 34. 

Pocotaligo (Fort Balfour), Harden 
takes, 134; mentioned, 537 (misstated 
in text as in Colleton — should be 
Beaufort) . 

Police, British Board of, 139, 365. 

Polk, Colonel William, declines longer 
to act as commissary, 13. 

Polk, Colonel Thomas, at battle of 
Eutaw, 452. 

Polk, Lieutenant , killed at 

Eutaw, 461. 

Porter against Dunn, case of, involv- 
ing " Sumter's law," 145, 146, 147. 

Porcerfield, Colonel, mentioned, 11. 

Postell, Colonel James, Marion's bri- 
gade, 82; sent to Black River, 83; 
captures Captain De Peyster, ibid. ; 
Marion sends him to Wadboo and 
Monck's Comer, where he captures 
prisoners and supplies, 99, 101 ; men- 
tioned, 119; elected member of the 
Jacksonborough legislature, 557, 
558. 

Postell, Captain John, Marion's bri- 
gade, 82; sent by Marion across 
Santee to Monck's Corner, 100, 101 ; 
is seized by British while under a 
flag from Marion, his case like that 
of Hayne, 150, 151, 152, 153, 1.54, 155; 
his case delays exchange of pris- 
oners, 364; his case mentioned, 409, 
.514. 

Postells, The, mentioned, 101, 537, 554, 
574. 



780 



INDEX 



Postliminium, doctriue of, and action 
of Greeue thereon, 662, 663, 664, 665, 

cm. 

Potterfield, Captain, (N.C.), killed at 
Eutaw, 4(30. 

Potts, Captain, Mai-ion's brigade, 100. 

Power, Lieutenant Robert, Lee's Le- 
gion, 80. 

Poyas, John, on prison ship, 359. 

Pringle, John Julius, argument of, in 
case of Porter against Dunn, 146. 

Prioleau, Philip, on board prison ship, 
.359 ; clerk of the Senate, 562. 

Prisoners, British, treatment of, 344 ; 
cartel for exchange of executed, 356 ; 
the workings of, 362; Hyrue's con- 
duct in regard to, 362, 363, 364; ex- 
changed, 380. 

Pritchard, the prisoner in provost, 369. 

Provost, prison in Exchange (Old 
Post Office), 368; prisoners confined 
iu it, 368, 369. 

Purvis, Captain John, mentioned, 229. 

Pyles, Colonel, defeat of, 123, 124, 
125. 

Quarter House, taken by Wade Hamp- 
ton, 327, 328; also by Lee, 329; men- 
tioned, 551. 

Quincy, Josiah, mentioned, 367. 

Quinby Bridge, battle of, 322-343; 
meutioued, 420, 544, 551, 725. 

Radcliffe, Captain William, killed, 
472. 

Ramsay, Dr. David, Hayne com- 
municates to him reasons for his 
course, 383; member of Privy 
Council, 511 ; member of the Jack- 
sonborough legislatui'e, 557; elected 
delegate to Congress, 572. 

Ravenel, Daniel, plantation of, men- 
tioned. See Wantoot. 

Rawdon, Lord Francis, question with 
Balfour as to command, 96, 97; 
mentioned, 98 ; marches to relief of 
Fort Granby, attacked by Sumter, 
106; determines to crush Marion, 
111 ; detaches Captain Grey to Dutch- 
man's Creek, 126; mentioned, 137; 
reenforced by Eraser, 164, 186; re- 
ceives information of Greene's ap- 
proach, 186 ; estimate of his strength, 
187, 188; assumes the offensive. 



attacks and defeats Greene at Hob- 
kirk's Hill, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 
194, 195, 196; reports to Cornwallis 
Watson's arrival at Camden, 215; 
disapproves of station at Camden, 
225 ; appreciation of work of parti- 
san bands, revolt after his victory, 
abandons Camden, 227, 228; prejia- 
ratious therefor, 228; Balfour 
meets him at Nelson's Ferry with 
report of rising of the country, 249; 
joined by McArthur, determines to 
endeavor to check operations of 
enemy, 250; mentioned, 252; directs 
the abandonment of Ninety Six, 255, 
256 ; his despatches intercepted, 255, 
256, 263; mentioned, 280, 285; 
marches for relief of Ninety Six, 292 ; 
passes Orangeburgh and Granby, 
296, 297; recovers the countiy 
wrested from him, 304 ; mentioned, 
307 ; falls back to Orangeburgh, 310 ; 
Stuart joins him at Orangeburgh, 
313; estimate of his force, 316; 
moves from Orangeburgh, 341; his 
connection with the case of Colonel 
Hayne, 382-399 ; his conduct in re- 
gard to it discussed in House of 
Lords, 402-412; sails for Europe, 
424; mentioned, 444; on his voyage 
to England is captured, 466; ex- 
changed for Governor Burke, ibid.; 
mentioned, 537, 539, 540, 541, 542, 
543, 544, 546, 721, 722, 723, 724, 725, 
726. 

Rawdon Town, Toi-y refugees estab- 
lished at, 228. 

Ra wis, William, wounded at Wiggins's 
Hill, 260. 

Rawls, Colton, wounded at Wiggins's 
Hill, 260. 

Read, Jacob, imprisoned at St. Augus- 
tine, 371 ; member of privy council, 
685. 

Read, Captain, of Hampton's regi- 
ment, encounters and defeats, Brit- 
ish patrol at Quarter House, 328. 

Read, Colonel, of North Carolina, at 
battle of Hobkirk's Hill, 191. 

Reed, Colonel Joseph (Pa.), usually 
mentioned as governor, Greene's let- 
ters to, 59, 179, 180, 181. 



INDEX 



781 



Beed, George, hung by Browne at 
Wiggms'sHill,2()i. 

Sepose, Camp of, Greene establishes 
at High Hills of Santee, 413, 423. 

Bhody, Daniel, on prison ship, 359. 

Bichardson, General Bichard, men- 
tioned, 58. 

Bichardson, Colonel Bichard, Marion 's 
brigade, 514 ; member of Jackson- 
borough legislature, 559; Coffin at- 
tacks and defeats him at Videau's 
bridge, SfK), 591. 

Bichmond, Duke of, his pusillanimous 
conduct in regard to the case of 
Colonel Hayne, 408. 

Bighton, Joseph, on prison ship, 359. 

Bitchie, Captain , killed by 

" Bloody Bill " Cuningham, 4G9. 

Boberts, Colonel Owen, death of, re- 
ferred to, 649. 

Bobins, Lieutenant, Loyalist, cap- 
tures Colonel Maham, 609. 

Bobinson, Joseph (Tory), mentioned, 
359, 549. 

Bochambeau, Count de, arranges 
with Washington for campaign, 436 ; 
mentioned, 498, 545. 

Boche, Mr. Patrick, plantation of, 
near Eutaw, mentioned, 450. 

Bocky Mount, affair at, mentioned, 
720. 

Boebuck, Benjamin, routes party of 
the enemy at Mud Lick, 114, 514. 

Booney, Lieutenant (Tory), killed at 
Nmety Six, 300. 

Bound 0, Greene's army takes posi- 
tion at, 492, 493, 494; army moves 
from, to Jackson bo rough, 501. 

Boupell, George, postmaster under 
Royal government, name not in Con- 
fiscation Act, 585. 

Budulph, Major John, 80 ; despatched 
by Lee to Ninety Six, information 
obtained by him forwarded to 
Greene, 265; captures Fort Gal- 
phin, 266; takes part in the siege of 
Augusta, 272; mentioned, 2i)6 ; is 
not promoted, becomes dissatisfied 
and resigns, 620. 

Budulph, Captain Michael, 80 ; takes 
part in an attempt upon George- 
town, 86, 87, 88; occupies Fort 



Granby upon surrender of Maxwell, 
239; Fort Cornwallis at Augusta 
surrendered to, 273 ; capture of gal- 
ley in Ashley River, 613, 614 ; volun- 
teers on special service, 623. 

Bugeley, Colonel Bowland, captured 
by Washington, 12. 

Eutherford, General Griffith, of 
North Carolma, mentioned, 446; 
Pickens applies to, for cooi^eration 
against the Cherokees, 624; does 
not come, 625. 

Butherford, , Major, killed at 

Eutaw, 461. 

Butledge, Edward, released from St. 
Augustine, writes to Washington urg- 
ing cooperation of French fleet to I'e- 
cover Charlestown, 481 ; member of 
the Jacksonborough legislature, 557 ; 
member of privy council, 572; com- 
missioner to negotiate agreement to 
check i^luuderon either side, 658, 659. 

Butledge, Hugh, Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, 562 ; lays 
before the House Banks & Co.'s 
proposition to feed army, 682. 

Butledge, Governor John, mentioned, 
12; informs Sumter of Greene's 
arrival, 59; Greene writes him, 60; 
appoints Pickens brigadier-general, 
121 ; puts Sumter in command of 
all state militia, proceeds to Phila- 
delphia, 139, 140 ; his letter to Mar- 
ion on subject, 140; Greene ap- 
peals to, for assistance, before 
Ninety Six, 286; mentioned, 324; 
letter to Sumter, 422 ; not yet re- 
turned to State, 426, 430; proposes 
to convene General Assembly at 
Camden, 495; but decides upon 
Jacksonborough, 496 ; Greene ad- 
dresses him upon subject of employ- 
ing negroes in the army, 499, 500 ; 
reserves it for consideration of 
the Assembly, 501; his dictatorial 
powers referred to, 508; sketch of 
his career since fall of Charlestown, 
509, 510, 511 ; confers with Sumter, 
511, 512; reorganizes militia and 
State troops, 513, 514, 515, 516; is- 
sues proclamation as to currency, 
516; writes to Marion forbidding 



782 



INDEX 



substitutes for militia duty, 517; 
impresses indigo, 520; issues proc- 
lamation in regard to Tories, its 
effects considered, 521, 522, 523, 524, 
525, 526; issues proclamation for 
election of new Assembly to meet 
at Camden, 528; meutioned, 549, 
550; issues writs of election to 
brigadiers with letter of instructions, 
555, 556; member of the Jackson- 
borough legislature, 557; mentioned, 
560 ; delivers his speech as governor 
to Assembly, 563 ; same quoted, 
563, 564, 565, 567; elected delegate 
to Congress, 572; again, 685; men- 
tioned,''726, 727, 728,^633. 

Sampit, affair at, 118 ; mentioned, 538, 
551, 723. 

Saratoga, victory at, mentioned, 36. 

Sarrazin, Jonathan, prisoner in prov- 
ost, o(i9. 

Saunders, Captain John (Br.), cor- 
respondence with Marion and Bal- 
four in regard to Postell, 152, 153, 
154. 

Saunders, John, on prison ship, 359. 

Saunders, Roger Parker, commis- 
sioner to carry out agreement be- 
tween Governor Mathews and Gen- 
eral Leslie to prevent plunder on 
either side upon evacuation, 658, 
65<), 660; recalled, 661. 

Saxon, Yancey, killed by "Bloody 
Bill " Cuniugham at Hayes's Station, 
475. 

Scott, General Charles, of Virginia, 
seizes and opens packages sent by 
Major Forsyth to Hunter, 679; ex- 
poses fraud to Governor Harrison 
of Virginia, 680. 

Scottowe, Thomas, name not found 
in Confiscation Act, 585. 

Scottowe, Samuel, on prison ship, 359 ; 
mentioned, 585. 

Screven, Colonel, takes part in fight 
.It "\^'ambaw, 603, 604. 

Scysia, , kills Turner, a Tory pris- 
oner, for the alleged ill-treatment of 
his wife, 631. 

Seavers, Abraham, on prison ship, 3.59. 

Selden, Lieutenant, of Virginia, 9(3. 

Ssrvier, Colonel, mentioned, 1, 55, 223 ; 



starts to reen force Greene, but halts 
and returns, 414; joins Greene, 483; 
ordered to Marion, 484; abandons 
Marion, 487 ; mentioned, 553; Pickens 
applies to for cooperation against 
Cherokees, 624 ; does not come, 625 ; 
mentioned, 719. 

Shelburne, Earl of, speech of, in House 
of Lords upon execution of Colonel 
Hayne, 404. 

Shelby, Colonel Isaac, mentioned, 1, 
55, 223; starts to reenforce Greene, 
but halts and returns to North Caro- 
lina, 414 ; joins Greene, 483 ; ordered 
to Marion, 484; abandons Marion, 
487; meutioned, 553, 719. 

Shelby, Captain Moses, with Carr sur- 
prises and defeats Tories under Dill, 
264. 

Sheridan, Major, New York Volun- 
teers, conduct of at Eutaw, 453, 455, 
463; mentioned, 737. 

Shrewsbury, Stephen, on prison ship, 
339. 

Simkins, Arthur, member Jackson- 
borough legislature, 559. 

Simons, Cornet James, takes part in 
capture of Loyalists at Williamson's 
plantation, 25; rallies survivors of 
Washington's command at Eutaw, 
454; is wounded, 461. 

Simons, Lieutenant, killed at Eutaw, 
461. 

Simons, Captain John, killed at 
Quinby bridge, 100. 

Simons, Colonel Maurice, name found 
in Amercement Act, 587. 

Simpson, James, intendent of police 
(Br.), assurances to Colonel Hayne, 
131; mentioned, 365; name not in 
Confiscation Act, 585. 

Singleton, Lieutenant, commands ar- 
tillery, Quinby bridge, 332. 

Singleton, Captain, mentioned, 163; 
at Quinby bridge, 338. 

Singleton, Colonel John, Greene's 
army encamps on his plantation, 
313. 

Singleton, Ripley, on prison ship, 359. 

Skinner, Dr. Alexander, Lee's Legion, 
80. 

Skirving, Colonel, his case delays 



INDEX 



783 



exchange of prisoners, 364; army 

posted ou his plantation, 501. 
Smallwood, Geueral, mentioned, 

12. 
Smith, Lieutenant (Va.) , takes part in 

capture of British galley, 513. 
Smith, Captain (Va.), posted at 

Greene's headquarters, 622. 
Smith, George, hung • by Browne at 

Wiggins's Hill, 261. 
Smith, Captain James (Md.), at battle 

of Hobldrk's Hill, 104. 
Smith, Captain John Carraway, 

Marion's brigade, KjO; takes part 

in fight at Tydimau's plantation, 

5()fi. 
Smith, Josiah, member privy council, 

685. 
Smith, Rev. Robert, mentioned, 

500. 
Smith, Samtiel, ou prison ship, 359; 

member privy council, 572. 
Smith, William Loughton, mentioned, 

731. 
Smyzer (or Smizer), Lieutenant, 

Marion's brigade, 101 ; drowned es- 
caping from defeat at Tydimau's 

plantation, 605. 
Sneed, Major, of Virginia, takes part 

in battle of Eutaw, 448. 
Sneling. John, on prison ship, 359. 
Snipes, Captain William Clay, with 

Peter Horry, in affair with Gainey, 

84; mentioned, 101. 
Snow Island, Marion rendezvous men- 
tioned, 2fi, 77, 78, 83, 86, 104, 111, 

lis, 119, 537, 538, 551, 723. 
Snowden, Lieutenant Jonathan, Lee's 

Legion, 80. 
Snyder. Pa,ul, on prison ship, 359. 
Spragins, Lieutenant, wounded at 

Eutaw, 4(U. 
Stafford, William, member of Jack- 

sonborough legislature, 558. 
Stamp Act, mentioned, 707, 708. 
Stark, Captain John, mentioned, 

369. 
Starke, Colonel Robert, imprisoned in 

provost, 309. 
Starke, Robert, a lad, .369. 
St. Clair, Ma,jor-General, despatches 

sent to hasten his advance, 498; 



arrives and forms junction with 
Greene, 593. 

Steuben, Baron, mentioned, 7, 9, 81, 
82. 

Stevens Creek, affair at, 476. 

Stevens, Daniel, imprisoned in prov- 
ost, 369. 

Stevens, William, of Saluda, in Gon- 
tiscation Act, 585. 

Stevenson, John, on prison ship, 354. 

Steward, Lieutenant, killed at Eu- 
taw, 461. 

Stormont, Lord, speech of, in House 
of Lords on Colonel Hayne's case, 
404. 

Stuart, Colonel Alexander, command- 
ing 3d Regiment advances toward 
Orangeburgh, 307, 308; recalled, 
310 ; again advances, 312 ; joins 
Rawdon at Orangeburgh, 313, 325 
succeeds Rawdon in command, 424 
moves toward McCord's Ferry, 424 
provisions fail him, 435; his move- 
ments thereon, ibid. ; threatened by 
Marion, 437; exact strength of, at 
Eutaw not known, 443; commands 
at battle of Eutaw, 446, 463 ; himself 
wounded, 461 ; retreats to Fair Lawn, 
4(>4 ; turns over command to Doyle, 
466 ; checks Marion at Wan toot, 485; 
his orderly falls into Marion's 
hands, 487 ; draws in his forces to 
Charlestown, 488 ; insolent com- 
munication to Marion, 489 ; men- 
tioned, 490; relieved by Leslie, 492; 
mentioned, 543, 544, 727. 

Sumner, General Jethro (N. C.), com- 
mands North Carolina Continentals 
at Eutaw, 446, 448, 452; despatched 
to put dowTi Gainey, 466. 

Sumter, General Thomas, mentioned, 
1 ; censured for not supporting 
Greene, 56; same considered, ibid.; 
Greene's singular letter to, 60, 61, 
62, 63, 64, 65; Greene rides to con- 
sult, 95; his letter to Sumter in re- 
gard to operations, 98, 99; Greene 
writes to him, 104, 105; his plans, 
ibid.; attacks Fort Granby, 105, 106; 
assails post at Thomson's plantation, 
107 ; captures train with supplies, and 
convoy, 107, 108 ; is betrayed by guide 



784 



INDEX 



and loses capture, 108 ; attacks Fort 
Watson, is repulsed, 109; retires to 
High Hills of Sautee, 109, 110 ; writes 
to Marion asking conference, 110, 
111 ; is intercepted by Major Fraser, 
110; injustice of historians to. 111; 
mentioned, 137; Governor Rutledge 
puts him in command of all State 
militia, 139, 140 ; appeals to Marion 
for conference, but fails to obtain it, 
141 ; Greene writes to him on subject 
of plunder, 142; his letter to Marion 
on same subject and upon reorgani- 
zation of militia, 143; his scheme 
for same, 144, 145, 146, 147; will 
not admit defeat at Guilford Court- 
house, 157 ; sends letter to Greene 
by Wade Hampton, 158; mentioned, 
160; Greene's letter informing him 
of movement into South Carolina, 
162, 163; not responsible for divulge- 
ment of same, 163, 164, 165; Hyrne 
brings letter from Greene to, 166; 
confers with him thereon, 167; his 
report and Sumter's reply misun- 
derstood by Greene, 168, "l69, 173; 
Greene's criticism of, 177; luke- 
warm report of, to Washington and 
Reed, 178, 179, 180, 181; letter to 
Greene by Captain McBee, 182, 183; 
Greene's letter of instructions to 
him, 185 ; his letter to Greene, ibul. ; 
Greene's disparagement of, in letter 
to Reed, 202; Greene summonses 
him to join him, 204; but upon his 
representation allowed to proceed 
against enemy's communications, 
206, 207, 208, 209, 210; charges 
against him growing thereout, 211, 
212, 213, 214; mentioned, 223, 225, 
226; brilliant successes of, 229; 
raids in Rawdon's rear, 229 ; applies 
to Greene for a field-piece, j6ic/. ,• in- 
vests Granby, makes dash at Orange- 
burgh, which he takes, 229, 230; 
proceeds to Fort Motte, 230; raids 
the country below the Santee, 231 ; 
mentioned, 239; Gi-eene calls on him 
for horses, 240, 241 ; offended at Lee's 
conduct at Fort Granby, tenders 
his resignation, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246; 
resignation not accepted, Greene's 



letter on subject, 246, 247; his good 
work shown, 250; advises concen- 
tration of forces and attack upon 
Rawdon, 251; overruled, 254, 255; 
mentioned, 279, 285 ; Greene calls on, 
to join him, 286; reports arrival of 
British reenforcements at Charles- 
town, 287, 288, 289, 290 ; at Granby, 
294; mentioned, 296, 304; prepares 
for expedition to Low-Country, 307 ; 
his conduct discussed, 311, 312 ; sum- 
moned to join Greene, 313; joins 
him, 316; expedition to Low-Coun- 
try, 323-343; mentioned, 380, 413; 
Greene conjures new causes of com- 
plaint against, 415-433 ; constitution 
of his command, 424; absent from 
Eutaw in consequence of his wound, 
459 ; mentioned, 483 ; advances upon 
enemy, 485; takes post at Orange- 
burgh, 493 ; Wade Hampton keeps his 
communication with Marion, ibid.; 
mentioned, 510; brigade reorganized 
by Governor Rutledge, 514; men- 
tioned, 520; charged with duty of re- 
ceiving submission of Tories, 527; 
resigns, 529 ; resignation the result of 
cabal of Greene and Lee, 529, 530, 
531, 532, 533, 534 ; mentioned, 536,539, 
545, 547, 553, 554 ; member of Jack- 
sonborough legislature, 559,562; his 
course therein in regard to General 
Greene, 567, 568; House commends his 
conduct, by Tory rumor he to be can- 
didate of Back-Couutry people for 
governor, 571 ; declares that he had 
never solicited public appointment, 
571 ; zealously supports Governor 
Mathews's administration, ibid. ; 
mentioned, 575, 576; consulted about 
move on Charlestown, 612 ; opposes 
in Congress relief of Greene's estate, 
683, 684; elected member of Con- 
gress, 685; on committee on subject 
of impressments, 687; mentioned, 
687, 718, 724, 725, 726, 727, 728, 731, 
732, 733, 738. 

Sumter's Law, case involving, 145, 
i4(;, 1-17. 

Swan, Major John (Md.), mentioned, 
(576. 

Swinton, Major Alexander, Marion's 



INDEX 



785 



brigade, mentioned, 101; determines 
to retreat with Marion into North 
Carolina, 120 ; wounded at battle of 
Quinby bridge, 338; mentioned, 340. 

Taite, Captain, detailed to Morgan's 
command, 10; takes part iu battle 
of Cowpens, 41. 

Tanner, Leonard, wounded at Wig- 
gins's Hill, 260. 

Tar let on, Lieutenant-Colonel Ban- 
astre, ordered over the Broad 
River, his instructions, 27 ; arrives 
on Pacolet, applies to Cornwallis for 
reenforcemeut, 28 ; receives reen- 
forcements, 29 ; outmanoeuvres Mor- 
gan and crosses Pacolet, 30 ; attacks 
Morgan at Cowpens and is defeated, 
33, 51; British angry thereat, 53; 
mentioned, 90, 92, 93; Lee's corps 
mistaken for his legion at Pyles's 
defeat, 123, 124, 125; mentioned, 
291, 541, 545, 710, 719, 721. 

Tarrar's Spring, affair at, 471. 

Taylor, Colonel Thomas, mentioned, 
182, 229; Sumter leaves to invest 
Granby, 229, 230; in Sumter's ex- 
pedition to Low-Country, 322 ; at the 
battle of Quinby bridge, 337, 339, 
340, 341; mentioned, 420, 424, 514; 
member of Jacksonborough legisla- 
ture, 559, 562 ; mentioned, 574, 717, 
731. 

Taylor, Paul, on prison ship, 359. 

Thomas, Colonel John, in affair at 
Bush River, 209; mentioned, 514; 
member of Jacksonborough legisla- 
ture, 559; mentioned, 731. 

Thomas, Colonel Tristam, member of 
Jacksonborough legislature, 560. 

Thompson, Mrs., scalped by Indians 
at Gowen's old fort, 478. 

Thompson, Sir Benjamin, Count Rum- 
ford, a new character appears upon 
scene, sketch of, 601 ; organizes 
expedition, attacks and defeats 
Marion's brigade in his absence, 602, 
603, 604, 605; attacks and again 
defeats Marion's men, 605; plans 
expedition to surprise Greene at 
Ashley Hall, 606; failure of the 
same, 507 ; disappears from South 
Carolina, ibid.; mentioned, 737. 

VOL. IV. 3 E 



Thomson, Colonel William, member 
of Jacksonborough legislature, 560. 

Thomson's Plantation, affair at, 107 ; 
mentioned, 537, 538, 551. 

Thomson, James Hamden, conduct of, 
and treatment at St. Augustine, 372. 

Thurlow, Lord, approves iu House of 
Lords execution of Colonel Hayne, 
405 ; is answered by Earl of Effing- 
ham, 406. 

Tonyn, Governor Patrick, of Florida, 
sends flag to General Greene, con- 
troversy over, 694, 695, 690, 697, 698, 
699; mentioned, 729. 

Torriano, Lieutenant, wounded, Mar- 
ion grants pass to, 116. 

Toussiger, James, on prison ship, 359. 

Triplett, Captain (Va.), detailed to 
Morgan's command, 10; takes part 
in battle of Co-nT)ens, 41. 

Truce arranged between Whigs and 
Tories, 026, 627. 

Trusler, William, killed at Quarter 
House, 329. 

Tuft, commands party of Cherokees at 
massacre of Gowen Fort, 477. 

Turnbull, Lieutenant-colonel (N. Y.), 
mentioned, 737. 

Turner, Captain , command of 

party massacred by "Bloody Bill" 
Cunningham, 471, 472, 473. 

Turner Lieutenant-Colonel William J. 
(Tory), not named iu Confiscation 
Act, 586. 

Twiggs, General John (Ga.), men- 
tioned, 594. 

Tynes, Colonel (Tory), mentioned, 84. 

Valentine, William (Tory), name in 
Confiscation Act, 585. 

Vanderhorst, Arnoldus, member of 
the Jacksonborough legislature, 557 ; 
mentioned, 574 ; member privy coun- 
cil, 685. 

Vanderhorst, Major John, chosen to 
command Marion's picked men in 
combat with McLeroth, 102, 103; 
mentioned, 514; member of the 
Jacksonborough legislature, 557 ; 
mentioned, 574; on committee on 
subject of impressments, 687; men- 
tioned, 718. 

Vardell, Sergeant, death of, 628. 



786 



INDEX 



Vinces, Fort, affair at, 476. 

Vergennes, Count De, mentioned, 496. 

Wadboo, or Watboo, affair at, 99, 101. 

Wahub's Plantation, affair at, men- 
tioned, 7o5. 

Wantoot, Mr. Ravenel's plantation, 
Stuart halts at, 464; mentioned, 487, 
488. 

Ward, John, in Confiscation Act, 586. 

Ward, John, commissioner to purchase 
estate for General Greene, 574. 

Warham, Charles, on prison ship, 359. 

Warham, David, on prison ship, 359. 

Waring, Benjamin, member privy 
council, 685. 

Waring, Kichard, on prison ship, 
359. 

Waring, Thomas, on prison ship, 359. 

Washington, George, Greene serves 
under, and accej^ts appointment of 
quartermaster general at his in- 
stance, 3; supports Greene, 5; ap- 
proves Greene's" appointment to 
command Southern Department, 6; 
his instructions to Greene, 6, 7 ; men- 
tioned, 54, 58; Greene appeals to, for 
assistance, 413; arrangements with 
Rochambeau for campaign, 436; 
learns of coming of second French 
fleet, ibid. ; marches for Virginia, 
437; Edward Rutledge writes to, 
urging cooperation of French fleet 
for recovery of Cbarlestown, 481; 
urges same on De Grasse, 482; fall 
of Cornwallis allows him to send re- 
enforcements to Greene, 483 ; Gov- 
ernor Rutledge represents affairs to, 
510; mentioned, 545, 546, 717. 

Washington, Colonel William A., 
mentioned, 11 ; captures Rugeley's 
post, 12 ; attacks and captures body 
of Loyalists at Hammond's Store, 23, 
24, 27 ; his cavalry at Cowpens, 31 ; 
takes part in battle, 33, 42, 49,50; 
at battle of Hobkirk's Hill, 191, 195, 
106 ; on court of inquiry on Colonel 
Gunby, 198; want of horses, 240; 
Greene's directions to, 307, 308 ; 
summoned to join Greene, 313; 
signs memorial to Greene urging re- 
taliation for execution of Colonel 
Hayne, 400 ; raids down country and 



captures prisoner, 434; watches 
Fair Lawn, 435; takes part in 
battle of Entaw, 446, 448, 454; 
woimded, 4.54, 461 : mentioned, 551. 

Waters, Colonel Thomas, head of 
Indian banditti parly, 654; escapes 
Pickens, 654, 655; and retires to St. 
Augustine, 656. 

Waters, John, on prison ship, 359. 

Waties, Thomas, Captain Marion's 
brigade, 101. 

Watson, Colonel John (Br.), estab- 
lishes post at Nelson's Ferry, 18; 
ordei'ed to move against Marion, 
111; ambuscaded by Marion at 
Wiboo Swamp, 113; conflict with 
Marion at Mount Hope, 115; at 
Witherspoon's Ferry, 116, 117 ; aban- 
dons the field, pursued by Marion 
to Georgetown, 117 ; again advances 
to join Doyle, ibid. ; warned of Lee's 
approach, returns to Georgetown, 
172; again advances to reenforce 
Rawdon, reaches Monck's Corner, 
175, 176; elndes Sumter, Marion, and 
Lee, and joins Rawdon at Camden, 
205, 212, 213, 214, 215; mentioned, 
226,251,537,538, 510,723. 

Watson, Fort, or Wright's Bluff, 
affair at, 107; investment and cap- 
ture of, 173, 174, 175; mentioned, 
538, 551, 734. 

Watson, Captain Michael, takes part 
with Butler in affair at Dean 
Swamp, 027, 628; is killed, 628. 

Watts, Captain, killed at Eutaw, 461. 

Waugh, Lieutenant (Br.), killed at 
Quarter House, 328. 

Waxhaws, affair at, 183; mentioned, 
551. ' 

Wayne, General Anthony, of Pennsyl- 
vania, ordered to reenforce Greene, 
but retained by Lafayette in Vir- 
ginia, 414 ; despatches sent to hasten 
his advance, 498; arrives and sent 
to Georgia, 594 ; is attacked by Creek 
Indians, 653; commands advance 
upon taking posses.sion on evacua- 
tion of Charlestown, 671, 672; de- 
clares army better clad than any 
other, 680, 7:50, 731. 

Welch, George, on prison ship, 359. 



INDEX 



787 



Wellsft Son, publishers iJot/a^Gaze^e, 
required to publisli Balfour's com- 
munication to prisoners, 359. 

Wheeler, Benjamin, on prison ship, 
o59. 

White, C3lonel Anthony Walton, men- 
tioned, 11; rejoins the army, SOi; 
justifies practice of ofKcers taking 
horses belonging to public, 665. 

White, Colonel, takes part with Roe- 
buck in routmg enemy at Mud Lick, 
114. 

White, Isaac, on prison ship, 339. 

White, Sims, on prison ship, 359. 

Wiboo Swamp, affair at, 113; men- 
tioned, 171. 537, 551, 723. 

Wiggins's Hill, affair at, 259, 260, 261, 
2()2 ; mentioned, 537, 538, 551, 574. 

Wilkes, John, mentioned, 707, 708. 

Wilkie, William, on prison ship, 359. 

Wilkinson, James, on prison ship, 
359. 

Wilkinson, Colonel of militia, 514. 

Wilkinson, Morton, exile, member of 
Jacksonborough legislature, 557 ; 
member of privy council, 572 ; com- 
missioner to purchase estate for 
General Greene, 574. 

Williams, Britton, hung by Bro^vne 
at Wiggins's Hill, 261. 

Williams, Daniel, hung by "Bloody 
Bill " Cuningham, Hayes's Station, 
475. 

Williams, Hezekiah, Colonel (Tory), 
attacks Whig militia, 434, 435 ; 
mentioned, 467 ; takes Vince's Fort, 
476. 

Williams, Colonel James, mentioned, 
1. 

Williams, Joseph, killed by " Bloody 
Bill " Cuningham, Hayes's Station, 
475. 

Williams, Colonel Otho Holland 
(Md.), given command consolidated 
regiments, 11 ; at battle of Hobkirk's 
Hill, 191, 193; prepares memorial to 



Greene urging retaliation for exe- 
cution of Hayne, 400 ; at battle of 
Eutaw, 448, 452; commands Con- 
tinental army, in absence of Huger, 
459; wounded (?),461. 

Williamson, General Andrew, at- 
tempts made to recapture him, 21 ; 
is recaptured but escapes and makes 
his way to Charlesto^^m, 21, 22. 

Williamson, Lieutenant-Colonel, Mi- 
cajah, of Georgia, commands in 
absence of Clarke, 258 ; marches to 
Augusta, 263. 

Wilmot, Captain (Md.), put in charge 
of critical service, 620; killed, last 
blood shed in Revolution in South 
Carolina, 667. 

Wilson, Lieutenant (Va.), killed at 
Eutaw, 460. 

Winn, Colonel Eichard, mentioned, 
1, 149, 229,514; member of Jackson- 
borough legislature, 559, 562; men- 
tioned, 731. 

Winston, William, lieutenant of Lee's 
Legion, 80. 

Wither spoon. Captain Gavin, Mar- 
ion's brigade, 100; mentioned, 172. 

Witherspoon's Ferry, affair at, H6; 
mentioned, 723. 

Women of Carolina, their conduct, 
370, 371. 

Woodford, Lieutenant (Md.). wounded 
at Eutaw, 460. 

Wright, Alexander, British commis- 
sioner to negotiate agreement to 
check plunder on either side, 558,559. 

Wright's Bluff, see Fort Watson, 109 ; 
mentioned, 538, 551. 

Wright, Captain, of Wasmassaw, 
killed at Quarter House, 328. 

Yeadon, Eichard, on prison ship, 
359. 

Yorktown, surrender of, 483. 

Yon, Thomas, on prison ship, 359. 

Youngblood, Captain, negotiates 
truce with Tories, 627. 



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